The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for acquiring prime agricultural land to build luxury flats in Greater Noida and questioned the invoking of an urgency clause that bars farmers from raising objections. It noted it would step in to prevent “more Nandigrams.”
“Whose residential use are these flats for? Who is building them? What are the prices? We want to go into details of the case. This urgency clause is not automatically invoked…. We do not want more Nandigrams in all States,” a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and A.K. Patnaik said.
The court said it would not like a situation similar to Nandigaram in West Bengal, where such steps to acquire land by invoking an urgency clause led to large scale protests and violence.
“We will not keep our eyes closed. You take it [agricultural land] from one side and give it to the other. This has to go and if it does not go, this court will step in to ensure that. It is development of one section of society only,” it said.
The Bench made the observations while hearing petitions filed by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and real estate developers and builders, including Supertech and Amrapali, challenging the Allahabad High Court order that quashed the notifications for land acquisition in Greater Noida.
The apex court expressed its annoyance over the invocation of the urgency clause for taking over the land on which high–cost residential flats were being constructed.
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