ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High Court Friday ordered cancellation of land acquisition in three villages of Noida and Greater Noida, besides declaring a 64 percent hike in the compensation for acquired land.
A special three-judge bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, S.U. Khan and V.K. Shukla gave the verdict on a joint writ petition moved by 491 farmers from more than a dozen villages in Gautam Budh Nagar district, forming Noida and Greater Noida.
More than 3,000 hectares of land was acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government for large scale urbanization in these areas.
The judgment will, however, jeopardise the dreams of thousands of applicants who were hoping to own a home under different housing schemes undertaken in the three villages – Deola, Chak-Shahberi (Greater Noida) and Asadullahpur (Noida) – where the court has quashed the acquisition.
Farmers of these three villages have been entitled to restoration of their acquired land, subject to return of all compensation they have received so far.
The court said: “The Greater Noida Authority and its allottees are directed not to carry on development and not to implement the Master Plan 2021 till the observations and directions of the National Capital Regional Planning Board are incorporated in Master Plan 2021 to the satisfaction of the National Capital Regional Planning Board. “
The court further called for immediate suspension of all construction and urbanization activity in 40 villages of Greater Noida until a clearance was obtained from an officer of the rank of principal secretary that the work was in accordance with the norms laid down by the National Capital Region (NCR) Planning Board.(IANS)