Anomalies in Noida land allotment: BJP leader moves HC

The petition has been filed by Nawab Singh Nagar,a member of BJP state executive and former MLA from Dadri.

A BJP leader filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday,challenging the allotment of 64 plots on a total of 66-hectare area in Gautam Budh Nagar for development of farmhouses. The court will take up the case on July 14. The petition has been filed by Nawab Singh Nagar,a member of BJP state executive and former MLA from Dadri.

The PIL said the state government,through two notifications of March 2009 and April 2010,had acquired 66.68 hectares of agricultural land from over 150 farmers and paid compensation at a rate of Rs 888 per square metre. The land was acquired for planned industrial development. But the government,instead,sold it as plots for farmhouses. The government took possession of the acquired land in May 2010.

He claimed that the government carved out 64 plots from the acquired land and sold them to little-known companies to build farmhouses at the rate of Rs 3,500 per sq m. The then market value of this land was Rs 20,000 to 25,000 per sq m. The allotment of prime land in a secret manner at a throwaway price to companies caused a loss of about Rs 1,200 crore to the state exchequer, said Nagar.

In the PIL,the petitioner has appealed the court to quash both the notifications issued for acquisition of the land and also sought directions to the state government to restore possession of the acquired land to the farmers.

Nagar has also sought directions to get an inquiry conducted into the matter by an independent agency. The PIL was filed in presence of BJP national secretary Kirit Somaiya. Most of the firms allotted land came into existence just a few days before the allotment, said Somaiya.

Settle compensation issue with Bisrakh farmers,UP told

The Allahabad High Court has directed the UP government to negotiate the issue of compensation with the farmers whose land had been acquired in Bisrakh village under Secunderabad tehsil of Bulandshahr district. The Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Corporation (UPSIDC) had acquired over 500 acres of land in 2003. The farmers,who had approached the court,said they had not been compensated for the land so far. The petitioners told the court that the land was acquired for planned industrial development,but neither the UPSIDC started any work on the acquired land nor awarded compensation to them. They also told the court that they were still practically in possession of land and had been farming there.