Another land acquisition annulled The Allahabad High Court on Friday asked the state government to explain why it was not returning the land of petitioners in Patwari village of Greater Noida when the land acquisition carried out there has already been quashed. In another judgment,acquisition of nearly 4.5 hectares of land in Biroundi Chakrasenpur village of Greater Noida was also quashed by a division bench of the high court. At least 15 villagers of Patwari village had approached the high court and filed a petition through their counsel Shiv Kant Mishra on Wednesday. The matter involving five hectares of land was heard today following which the court sought an explanation from the state government and the Greater Noida Authority. Counsel Mishra said the tract of land has been handed over to a private builder. Earlier,a three-judge bench had to be constituted in connection with the acquisition of 589 hectares of land in Patwari by the Greater Noida Authority after two contradictory judgments by separate benches of the high court. The first order,passed in 2008,had upheld the land acquisition in Patwari. But another order,passed on July 19,2011,cancelled the land acquisition and directed the Authority to return the land to the villagers. However,when the court was informed about the 2008 judgment,it referred the matter to the three-judge bench,which heard nearly 500 petitions on land acquisition in several Greater Noida and Noida villages. The larger bench gave a detailed order on October 21,2011 that upheld previous high court decisions in which the land acquisition was cancelled. But it had not specifically mentioned that the land be returned to the villagers. Our main argument is that since the three-judge bench had upheld the previous order which specifically directed that land be returned the petitioners are entitled to get their land back, said Mishra. The respondent counsels of the state government and the Authority sought time to acquire complete facts on the matter following which the court gave them three weeks time. Meanwhile,in another case pertaining to land acquisition,a division bench led by Justice Sunil Ambwani,quashed the acquisition of nearly 4.5 hectares of land in Biroundi Chakrasenpur village of Greater Noida. The Authority had initiated the process of acquisition of nearly 9.7 hectares of land in 2009. The grounds on which the acquisition has been cancelled will have to be seen. The three-judge bench had earlier upheld the acquisition in this village. We are going through the details of the order, said counsel for Greater Noida Authority,Ramendra Pratap Singh.
