Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Friday referred to a larger bench the petitions filed by farmers from
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati`s ancestral village,
challenging acquisition of their land by the state government.
The judgement was passed this morning by the Division
Bench comprising Justice Amitava Lala and Justice
Ashok Srivastava on writ petitions filed by about 50 farmers
from Badalpur village, who had challenged acquisition of 230
hectares of land in the year 2008.
The same division bench comprising justices Amitava Lala
and Ashok Srivastava had on July 26 referred all petitions
challenging land acquisition by the UP government in Noida and
Greater Noida areas to the Chief Justice with the request that
a larger bench be constituted for deciding the matter.
The larger bench is expected to hear the cases on August
17.
The petitioners have alleged that their land was acquired
by invoking the urgency clause for the development of Greater
Noida area, which deprived them of an opportunity to raise
objections as well as bargain for adequate compensation.
Besides, they have alleged, exemption from acquisition
was granted to "some influential land-owners in a
discriminatory fashion".
A Division Bench has on July 26 released a bunch of
petitions, where by acquisition of nearly 3000 hectares of
land spread across about a dozen villages was challenged, and
referred the matter to the Chief Justice with a request for
constituting a larger bench for deciding the matter.
The petitions of Badalpur farmers were filed a day later, on
July 27.
The government is under attack for acquiring land in a
number of villages in Gautam Buddh Nagar district for
developing the Noida Extension areas.
PTI
