Farmers petition Allahabad HC against Modi rally

A petition was on Thursday filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging Kanpur administration`s decision to allow use of agricultural land owned by dalits for BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi`s maiden rally in Uttar Pradesh later this week.

Allahabad: A petition was on Thursday filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging Kanpur administration`s decision to allow use of agricultural land owned by dalits for BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi`s maiden rally in Uttar Pradesh later this week.

"We have filed a Public Interest Litigation wherein our contention is that 127 households of Kalyanpur area have been adversely affected by the district administration`s decision to allow the use of their land for the rally of October 19," the petitioner`s counsel Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi said.

"The affected families had been granted about four acres of land way back in 1960s. Being agriculturists, they are solely dependent on the land for their livelihood. The administration, before granting permission for holding of rally on the land, neither sought the owners` approval nor did it pay heed when they raised objections," he alleged.

Naqvi, however, clarified "our objection is not to the rally per se but to the invidious manner in which the use of private land for a public purpose has been allowed by Kanpur administration without addressing the concerns of the owners."
"We hope that the petition will come up for hearing before a vacation bench of the court tomorrow," he added.

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