Noida land acquisition hearing: Judge recuses himself

ALLAHABAD: Hearing into scores of petitions filed against land acquisition in Noida, Greater Noida and Noida Extension areas in Gautam Budh Nagar was deferred on Wednesday when a member of the specially constituted three-judge bench recused himself from the case. Justice R K Agrawal, who was heading the bench, which also comprised Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice V K Shukla, recused himself when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday morning.
Thereafter, the matter was referred back to the Chief Justice of the High Court for constituting a new bench. Though the Greater Noida Authority was ready to file compromise affidavit executed between itself and the farmers before the larger bench on Wednesday, the same could not be done as the hearing was deferred.
A two-judge bench of Justice Amitava Lala and Justice Ashok Srivastava, which had been hearing the Noida land acquisition matters, had on July 26 released all the petitions from its jurisdiction with a request to the Chief Justice for constituting a larger bench. Meanwhile, a division bench of Justice Amitava Lala and Justice Ashok Srivastava also adjourned till August 19 hearing in all those land acquisition cases of Noida and Greater Noida which were listed in their court on Wednesday after the chief standing counsel informed them that the order referring the cases to a larger bench has been challenged in the SC by farmers.
Acquisition of more than 3,000 acres of land, spread across nearly a dozen villages of Gautam Budh Nagar, has been challenged by hundreds of farmers whose prime contention is that land was acquired by invoking "urgency clause" of the Land Acquisition Act that had deprived them of an opportunity of raising objections and thereby negotiating for adequate compensation.
The farmers have also taken exception to the fact that land was acquired by the UP government in the name of planned industrial development but was later given away to builders for constructing residential complexes.
Among the petitioners are farmers from Badalpur, the ancestral village of UP chief minister Mayawati, and some others whose land had been acquired over 30 years ago but is lying in disuse since then.
Thousands of people who have invested in the housing complex projects in the area have also moved the court with the plea that they be made a party in the case. Similar applications have also been moved by builders involved in the projects.