State govt is guardian of public and its interest: SC
New Delhi, February 24
The state government is “guardian” of the public and its interest, the Supreme Court said on Friday while deprecating the manner in which the state of Haryana dealt with acquisition proceedings, either releasing the land or permitting the acquisition to be quashed in a “most arbitrary manner”.
The apex court was dealing with the pleas arising out of the April 2021 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on a batch of petitions concerning acquisition of land for residential and commercial purposes in Kurukshetra.
A Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said the state shall take care in future and must use the land acquired for the purpose for which it has been acquired, otherwise the object and purpose of acquisition will be frustrated.
“The state government is guardian of the public interest and the public and the public interest was required to be considered the paramount interest rather than releasing the lands at initial stage in favour of the influential persons,” the Bench said in its 22-page verdict.
In its verdict, the apex court observed when land parcels were acquired for utilisation and development as residential and commercial area to develop new sectors, and that too by the urban development authority, the future need is required to be considered and the expansion in future is also required to be taken into consideration.
