State to pay ‘undisputed’ relief to landowners in a month

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 18

A year after the Punjab and Haryana High Court took cognisance of non-payment of compensation for acquired land to owners, the State of Haryana has conceded that Rs 484 crore was still due.

As the issue came up for resumed hearing, the state also undertook to pay — within a month — the amount “undisputed” to the landowners.

Taking up the petition, the Bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Amit Rawal asserted the writ petition was filed with a grievance that compensation for land acquired was not paid to the landowners.

The Bench added the issue was taken up in larger public interest as a number of petitions were being filed in court with the grievance. A substantial amount, as a result, was paid during the pendency of the writ petition.

Referring to the submission by the state counsel, the Bench noted that approximately Rs 484 crore were due to be paid to the landowners as on date.

Out of the total, a substantial amount was pertaining to land regarding which litigation was pending under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

“It was submitted that the undisputed amount payable to the landowners shall be disbursed within a period of a month from today,” the Bench observed. Taking into consideration the facts, the Bench disposed of the matter after asserting that further orders were required to be passed in the writ petition.

Rapped by the High Court for failure to pay compensation to landowners after acquiring “thousands of acres”, the Haryana Government had in November last year undertaken to pay Rs 1,000 crore by December 31, 2017.

The government also undertook to release Rs 500 crore every month as compensation to the landowners. An affidavit by Haryana Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Sudhir Rajpal, said, among other things, that the approximate liability after recalculation and re-determination of compensation payable on account of land acquisition was about Rs 3,100 crore.

The developments took place on a bunch of petitions filed by Yogesh Sharma and other petitioners against the State of Haryana and other respondents alleging delay in compensation by HUDA, an arm of the Haryana Government.

The stand taken by the State of Haryana and other respondents on a previous date of hearing was that the bank accounts of HUDA had already been attached by the executing courts in different cases where compensation was not paid.

“This is the most unfortunate situation where the state has acquired land running into thousands of acres owned by the landowners and has failed to pay the compensation,” the Bench had asserted.