ALLAHABAD: A judge heading a bench specially constituted for hearing scores of petitions challenging acquisition of land in UP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district on Wednesday recused himself from the case.
Justice RK Agrawal, who was heading the bench which also comprised justices Ashok Bhushan and VK Shukla, recused himself when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday morning.
The matter has been, thereafter, referred back to the Chief Justice for constituting a new bench.
A two-judge bench, which had been hearing the Noida land acquisition matters, had on July 26 released all the petitions from its jurisdiction with a request to the Chief Justice for constituting a larger bench.
Acquisition of more than 3000 acres of land, spread across nearly a dozen villages of Gautam Buddh Nagar district has been challenged by hundreds of farmers whose main contention is that land was acquired by invoking “urgency clause” of the Land Acquisition Act which had deprived them of an opportunity of raising objections and thereby negotiating for adequate compensation.
The farmers have also taken exception to the fact that land was acquired by the state government in the name of “planned industrial development” of the area but was later given away to builders for constructing residential complexes.
Among the petitioners include farmers from Badalpur, the ancestral village of UP chief minister Mayawati.
Besides, some other farmers, whose land had been acquired more than 30 years ago and has been lying in disuse since then have also moved the court.(PTI)