The Supreme Court has ordered the status quo with regard to the land that Atlas Cycles has been dispossessed of and which allegedly has been acquired by the Haryana Government.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, while issuing notice to the state government, has asked parties to maintain status quo on the land. It had earlier restrained the Haryana government from dispossessing Atlas Cycles of the land, acquired under the Land Acquisition Act for residential and commercial purposes. Atlas had challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that allowed the state government to acquire its “34-year-old non-polluting and non-hazardous factory land”.

The High Court had dismissed the Atlas petition challenging the acquisition on the grounds that the land is in the middle of an area that is being sought to be developed and was not in use when the notification was issued in November 2001.

According to Atlas Cycles, its plant, which employed around 250 workers, was set up on 7.12 acres in Rasoa village in Sonepat and had all the clearances required.