Relief for acquired land: Haryana told to form audit team
Saurabh Malik
Chandigarh, June 17
Noting that land losers were unjustifiably forced to seek legal recourse despite clear entitlement to compensation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the Haryana Chief Secretary to constitute an audit team at the earliest. Among other things, the team is to report whether the compensation has been disbursed according to the previously prepared payment schedule.
The directions came as the Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Lalit Batra observed the affected individuals were compelled to seek legal redress despite entitlement to prompt payment for their acquired land. The Bench made it clear that the compensation should have been released without delay.
The assertions came on a bunch of petitions filed against the state of Haryana and other respondents by Savita Devi, Jayender Singh Chandail and other petitioners. Among other things, Chandail contended their land was acquired 32 years ago, but the compensation was not paid.
The Bench was told that their proceedings for land acquisition by HSVP/HUDA for Panchkula’s Sectors 27 and 28 was initiated under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in June 1989, and the award was pronounced in June 1992. But the payment was yet to be made.
The Bench asserted the audit team would examine the entire records relating to the availability of compensation for the relevant purpose before making a report “whether the amount had been disbursed in terms of the schedule of payments plan”.
The Bench added the Chief Secretary would ensure the issuance of show-cause notices to the “officer/official concerned,” if the team’s report revealed that the petitioners/land-losers were compelled to approach the courts of law despite availability of sufficient finances for disbursement of determined compensation amount.
The notice would ensure an opportunity to the officer/official concerned to furnish an explanation for “such dereliction”. The Chief Secretary was then asked to launch a lawful inquiry against officer/official concerned, if ultimately they failed to effectively respond or give a weak response to the show-cause notice.
“A copy of the audit report accompanied by an affidavit sworn by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Haryana vis-à-vis its authenticity be ensured to be placed before the executing courts concerned, but within a period of three months,” the Bench added.
Delay in disbursement
The directions came as the Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Lalit Batra observed that the affected individuals were compelled to seek legal recourse despite entitlement to prompt compensation for their acquired land.
