HC upholds takeover of land near Yamuna

Bhadra Sinha / TNN / Aug 10, 2006, 01:12 IST

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The Delhi high court has upheld the acquisition proceedings to facilitate the project of Yamuna channelisation.

NEW DELHI: Seventeen years after Delhi government had issued notification to acquire 35 bighas of land in Ghonda village, the high court has upheld the acquisition proceedings to facilitate the project of Yamuna channelisation.
A status quo had halted the entire project since 1995 after the land owners claimed that the acquisition proceedings had lapsed because no award had been made to them in lieu of the government's decision to take away their land.
However, a division bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice S Muralidharan observed that the various petitions filed on behalf of the land owners had misrepresented the facts before the court to delay the acquisition proceedings. As a result the land owners were not entitled to any relief.
The judges observed: "These proceedings, to say the least, are an abuse of the process of law and none of these petitioners is entitled to any relief whatsoever under the Constitution of India."

Besides, the high court also gave directions to DDA to computerise their records pertaining to land acquisition since most of them are under challenge in courts.
The court was forced to issue the guidelines since DDA could not produce the original file which had recorded the award proceedings in favour of the land owners who were petitioners in this case.
Although DDA admitted that the original file was untraceable, they were able to prove that an award had been declared in favour of the petitioners.

DDA produced an application before the court in which the petitioners had sought for enhancing the award in lieu of giving their land for the channelisation of the Yamuna.
The government had announced the award for land acquisition at the rate of Rs 2 lakh per bigha. The land owners were, however, asking for Rs 20 lakh per bigha. DDA said the application was enough to prove that the land owners were aware of the acquisition proceedings and the award.
Even as the DDA promised to reconstruct the file pertaining to the case, the high court gave directions to the authority to take concrete steps to preserve the records.
A compliance report has to be filed by the DDA and land acquisition collector giving details of whether the computerisation of records had begun or not.
Also to avoid frivolous and misleading petitions in future, which often halt the development process, the court has advised the land acquisition collector to get every award digitally signed by the awardee.
In addition to the hard copies, the court has suggested the authorities to prepare tamper-proof electronic format. "Ideally, all these records which would include the maps, survey and inspection report, notification and orders relating to the acquisition proceedings should be preserved in electronic folders," the judges observed.

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