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Land-Acquisition

Land Acquisition in Noida Extension Quashed by the High Court

An Investor, panicked after he came to know that the Allahabad High Court had quashed land acquisition at Sahberi village in Greater Noida. This is the place where investor had invested for a home in the Noida Extension residential scheme launched by a private builder. He immediately called up at the office of his respective builder. He breathed a sigh of relief when the builder told him that his hard-earned money was safe. Now Investor had two options: he could take his money back from the builder with interest (as promised by the builder) or he could get his flat transferred to some other project of the builder in Noida Extension. He chose the second option because he could not get any other flat at the same rate on which he booked this one a few months back. Out of 5700 flats at Amrapali Smart City, about 4000 had been booked. Now when the project was affected, few customers asked the builder to return their money, and the rest got their flats transferred to Amrapali Dream Valley. Both projects are in Noida Extension. But the question is – IS THIS NEW PROJECT COMPLETELY HASSLE-FREE?

Main Issue
The Allahabad High Court on May 12, 2011 struck down the acquisition of land by the Greater Noida Authority in Sahberi Village. Developers like Gaur, Amrapali, Supertech, Ajnara, Mahagun and many others have launched residential schemes in the name of Noida Extension. The high court de-notified the entire land of Sahberi village for not giving the farmers an opportunity to file their protest under section 5 of the Land Acquisition Act (LA Act).

The Greater Noida Authority had on June 10, 2009 notified the village land of Sahberi and later took physical possession of it by entering it in revenue records. It deposited the compensation in the district treasury to be given to farmers whose land was acquired. After formalizing the process of the Land Acquisition Act, the land was allotted to the real estate developers.

July 5, 2011 – SC lashed out at growing incidents of land acquisition that were not meant for any public purpose. The observation was made while the court refused to stay the implementation of the Allahabad high court verdict that quashed the Noida Authority’s land acquisition notification of 156.3 hectares in Shahberi village, part of what is popularly known as Noida Extension. The bench also observed: “When people protest against acquisition of their land, men are arrested and women raped.”

The bench also imposed a fine of Rs.10 lakh on Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and directed it to return the land to its original owners. Six housing projects with proposed 6500 units would be affected by the judgement.

Recent Troubles
July 19, 2011 – The Allahabad High Court has quashed the state’s notifications acquiring 589 hectares of farmland in Patwari Village in Greater Noida. The land was later sold to around 11 developers who were coming up with projects there. Some of the affected projects are Supertech Eco Village, Amarpali La Residentia, Wellentia, arihant Arden, Nirala Estate, Sampoornam, Mayfair garden, Patel Neo Town, Gayatri Aura, Two Greater Noida Authority schemes (plotting).

The Noida Extension Flat Buyers’ Welfare Association has moved the Allahabad High Court, pleading that they be made a party to the cases.

July 21 – The Allahabad High Court deferred the land acquistion matter on July 26. Fate of around 1700 hectares spread across 7 villages i.e. Hebatpur, Bisrakh, Itteheda, Ghanola, Mancha, Devna and Roja-Yakubpur will be decided.