In a major decision, the Supreme Court has nullified the acquisition of a whopping 280 acres of land in Rohtak by the erstwhile Om Prakash Chautala and Bhupinder Singh Hooda Governments between 2002 and 2005.
What seemed as a “public purpose” acquisition turned out to be a “fraud” played on the innocent farmers and land owners as the Court found out that the State had orchestrated the acquisition so as to benefit a private builder, Uddar Gagan Properties, that had grand plans to develop a mega residential complex over 280 acres of land in Sector 27 & 28 in Rohtak. In order to facilitate smooth land transfer, the State acquired 422.88 acres of land in April 2005 and separated 280 acres from it for the builder to pursue his interest.
“State’s power of compulsory acquisition cannot be used to enable a private entity to acquire title even if private person offers more compensation than the State,” held a Bench of Justices Anil R Dave and Adarsh K Goel. Cancelling all licenses acquired by the builder over the said land, the bench directed that in the normal course, the land should return back to the land owners. Sustaining the public good behind acquisition, the Bench directed the land to revert to the state land owning agency — Haryana Urban Development Authority.
“Person whose land is taken for houses for others cannot be rendered homeless and unemployed. This will be sheer exploitation,” said the Bench, adding, “release of land to such builder tantamount to acquisition for a private purpose. It amounts to transfer of resources of poor for the benefit of the rich.”
Importantly, the Court also held that if a builder has sold plots or homes to innocent home buyers on such acquired land, Court will not be weighed down by their plight to sustain the illegal acquisition. The judges said, “Acquisition of land is a serious matter as it may result in depriving a tenure holder not only of his property but also his profession, livelihood and social security. Even plight of investors in plots or flats in land covered by acquisition or litigation cannot be a ground to ignore illegal actions of depriving a farmer of his land.”
Not only did the Court dislodge the builder of the possession of land, it also directed that the company will not demand payback of the compensation amount paid to the land owners which amounted to Rs 64.58 crore. The builder cried foul as he claimed of investing a total of over Rs 174 crore after he received Rs 110 crore from consumers who booked plots/homes in his project. The Court quashed even the agreements entered by the builder with the investors desiring a plot/home but left a window open for them to recover their money from the builder.
The Court posted the matter after a year to monitor steps taken by the State Government to identify the concerned officials in the State Government who connived with the builder and released the land even when the company in question had no title over the land.