New Delhi: Against the backdrop of the
Noida land controversy, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia on Sunday termed as the "biggest problem" the situation in which
the Supreme Court is called upon to give ex-post facto
approval to buildings and projects after crores have been
invested.
"The most acute problem over the years the Supreme
court has faced is that the plans, the buildings, the projects
come up and suddenly at the end a PIL comes and we are
required to decide ex-post facto approval."
"This is the biggest problem the which Supreme Court is
facing. Should crores of investment be just thrown out or
should we give ex-post facto approval. If so, in what cases?"
he said at an international seminar here.
His remarks came as buyers of flats in Greater Noida
prepare to move the Supreme Court challenging Allahabad High
Court orders quashing acquisition of about 750 hectares of
land acquired by the UP government from farmers and given to
builders for setting up multi-storeyed residential apartments.
The Allahabad High Court had recently cancelled the
land allotments in Noida Extension- Shahberi and Patwari
villages- on the charge that the state government had not
given adequate compensation to farmers whose fields were
bought and later sold to private builders.
Some of these projects are nearing completion and the
order would lead to demolition of flats and loss of crores of
rupees.
The CJI was apparently referring to such cases though
he did not name the projects.
Kapadia said local bodies also create problems for the
Supreme Court when they first approve a project but backtrack
later.
"We have village durbars and some local bodies which
give OK, NOC but after sometime they object to the project
coming up. How do we deal with this? Even in public
participation views can change for certain reasons at a later
date," he said.
The Chief Justice suggested that the British legal
system could give India some directions in this regard as UK
has devised some concepts to face this challenge.
PTI
