High Court quashes Haryana’s release of prime Gurgaon land

The Division Bench of Justices Jasbir Singh and R K Garg ordered demolition of structures on the land in Silokhera village in Gurgaon,including the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) launched by Haryana. The court gave the companies six months to raze the structures,failing which demolition would be carried out by the Haryana government.

The Bench also slapped a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the government,East India Hotels Ltd,DLF Ltd and Chandra Jyoti State Developers Pvt Ltd,Delhi.

On a petition filed by Gurgaon resident Harikishan,the Bench said: “Facts alone are enough to establish the nexus of M/s DLF Ltd with the government to grab the property in question… subsequent facts of granting necessary approvals for setting up a SEZ etc was an attempt to cover the malafide action of Haryana… the power of acquisition has been used for a collateral purpose of extending benefits to three private companies as against a public purpose.”

On January 30,1989,Haryana issued a notification seeking to acquire an area measuring 210.38 acres in Silokhera and an area measuring 5.2 acres in Sukhrali for public purposes namely utilisation for residential and commercial area for Sector 30,Gurgaon. But the notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued only for an area measuring 169 acres in Silokhera and 2.13 acres in Sukhrali.

In a notification dated September 19,1995,Haryana released 30 acres in favour of East India Hotels,which sought the land saying it intended to construct a hospital for public purpose on the land.

“Instead of constructing a hospital as stipulated in the release orders,the company sold the land,in violation of conditions,to Chandra Jyoti and DLF for Rs 115 crore. To facilitate utilisation of land so purchased,the state government further proceeded to issue a notification on December 6,2006 for setting up Special Economic Zone with respect to an area measuring 29.7882 acres and notification dated March 9,2007 with respect to area measuring 7.1877 acres. Only 171.13 acres was sought to be acquired and the remaining land was left from acquisition,” the bench said.

Haryana tried to justify its action by stating that the released land has been utilised in accordance with the approved master plan and there was nothing illegal. The court has asked Haryana to recall such release and ascertain whether the release was for any extraneous consideration. “Released land may be restored to the State or sold in public auction,” the Bench said.