Four-decade-old land acquisition dispute: Supreme Court stays demolition in Kartarpuri village, Gurugram

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 16

The Supreme Court has stayed demolition of certain residential properties in Kartarpuri village, Gurugram, after the landowners challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s verdict rejecting their plea seeking de-notification of acquisition of the land in question.

Issuing notice to the State of Haryana on a petition filed by Anil Suri and others, a Bench led by Justice AS Bopanna said, “In the meantime, structures, if any, existing on the subject property shall not be demolished nor the petitioners shall carry out any improvements or construction on the property.” It ordered that the matter be tagged with a similar case pending before it.

This is the second case in the recent past in which the top court has passed such an order. Last month, it stayed the demolition of some properties in Sector 23 of Gurugram after the landowners challenged the high court’s verdict declining their demand for denotification of acquisition of their land. It had also decided to examine the landowners’ claim under Section 101A of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (as amended by Haryana Legislative Assembly), which provides for denotification of land acquisition where public purpose has become unviable or non-essential.

In the Kartarpuri case, the petitioners have challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s October 20 judgment dismissing their petition for return of land.

The petitioners – who purchased 16 kanals in Kartarpuri village, Gurugram, in 1978 – constructed a house covering an area of 10,500 square ft and were living there. “The petitioners’ land is a tiny island completely surrounded by land of Usha Stud Land Agricultural Farms Pvt Ltd (66 acres of land) qua which acquisition stands quashed and the land has not been re-notified for acquisition, thereby making the entire public purpose for acquisition unviable or non-essential,” they submitted.

The state government started the process for acquisition of 1,005.30 acres of land for development of residential and commercial sites in Sectors 21, 22, 23 and 23A of Gurugram and a declaration for acquiring 260.18 acre land in Kartarpuri village was made without addressing their objections, the petitioners submitted.

Petitioners’ counsel Shubham Bhalla said, “Since majority of the land has been quashed or released, the development plan has been rendered unviable and is no longer executable.”