UPHDB wins battle over Rs 7 crore land

Vidushi Dubey / TNN / Apr 14, 2005, 01:21 IST

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LUCKNOW: The UPHDB had relief on Wednesday when the civil court observed that a Rs 7 crore could not be handed over to a dairy owner.

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal">LUCKNOW: After a 25-year battle with a dairy owner over a Rs 7 crore-2.58 acre land in Indiranagar, worsened by vested interests in the housing department hell bent on favouring the dairy owner, the UP Housing and Development Board (UPHDB) had relief on Wednesday when the civil court observed that the land could not be handed over to the dairy owner. That the housing department had, earlier since 1978, constantly asked UPHDB to release only the residential portion of the 2.58 acre land to Syed Fakrool Hasan after taking development charges, the UPHDB got a shock in 2003 when the housing department, in its letter to the UPHDB, asked the board to release the entire 2.58 acre after taking development charges. Officials said that this would translate into a phenomenal loss to the UPHDB as the prime land, adjacent to the Convention centre in A-Block, was estimated to be worth over Rs 7 crore.What the board would have got as development charges was a mere fraction of the actual cost. The UPHDB, in a letter in June 2003, explained to the housing department that the land was covered under the Indiranagar scheme and was commercially viable for the Board. The UPHDB stated that the market value of the land was as high as Rs 6.75 crore. Mentioning that as per procedure, commercial properties were disposed of through an auction, UPHDB stated that it would be in a loss if the land was handed over to the dairy owner for a pittance in the form of development charges. The UPHDB referred to the earlier orders by the government wherein it had directed the UPHDB to hand over only 1500 sq mt of residential land to Hasan. The UPHDB also mentioned that Hasan''s plea for the entire chunk was even rejected by the government earlier. Hasan had though filed a case in the the civil court in 1981 against the demolition of a boundary wall constructed by him. The petition was cancelled by the civil court. He had, thereafter, filed a writ in the High Court which issued an interim order. The UPHDB stated that it had, in 2003, challenged the interim order by way of a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, which directed that the case be disposed of on a priority by the civil court. The UPHDB stated to the housing department that in its representations to the civil court, it had explained that the land could be released in favour of an individual only in public interest. Here, however, the act would entail financial benefit to only an individual against a phenomenal loss to the UPHDB. Even as the housing department failed to accede to UPHDB''s request for rejecting Hasan''s plea, the civil court''s orders on Wednesday came as a relief. The court reportedly observed that the 2.58 acre was under the Indiranagar scheme and that Hasan had no rights to the land after the UPHDB acquired the land. While the UPHDB officials were jubilant on the orders, housing commissioner Neeraj Gupta refused to comment on the issue stating that he had not received the court''s orders. Secretary, housing, JS Misra was not available for comments on why the housing department had, in the first place, not heard UPHDB''s plea and had ordered that the land be handed over to Hasan. </div> </div>

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