Artist moves high court on Aravali plot

CHANDIGARH: Acclaimed painter Anjolie Ela Menon and social activist Primila Lewis moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday seeking quashing of the notifications through which the Haryana government intended to "urgently'' acquire their land in the Ghatta village, Gurgaon, ostensibly for public purposes.
Menon, a Padmashree awardee who has also been felicitated by the French government, and Lewis expressed surprise at the Haryana government's "hurry'' to acquire the petitioners' land measuring 11,500 sq yd for construction of roads in the proposed sector 58 of Gurgaon-Manesar township "without even caring to serve notice or bothering for the environment''.
Bringing to fore the ecological fragility of the land that adjoins an age-old seasonal water reservoir served by "an ancient bundh, dam and sluice gates dating back to 1883'', the petitioners' counsel, Hardev Singh Mattewal, said before Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Jitendra Chauhan, "The reservoir is a part of an ecologically sensitive Aravali range and is an important wetland that collects water from the drainage of the Aravalis preventing erosion.''
Mattewal argued that the government's intentions were patently malafide as the petitioners were not even given the opportunity to voice their objections to the proposed acquisitions under sections, 4, 6 and 17 (urgency clause) of the Land Acquisition Act.
Following the arguments by the petitioners, the bench issued notices to the Haryana government and other respondents.