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This Petition for special leave to appeal under Article 136 of the
Constitution of India is directed against the order and judgment dated May
28, 2020, (“Impugned Judgment”) of the High Court of Judicature at
Allahabad, in the leading Writ Petition No. 28968 of 2018 titled M/s
Shakuntla Educational and Welfare Society vs State of Uttar Pradesh and
Others along with other batch petitions where by Hon’ble Allahabad High
Court has erroneously quashed a policy decision taken in public interest of
the farmers, by declaring the Order dated August29, 2014 (“Government
Order”) issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh (“State” / “Respondent No.”)
as invalid and illegal. Consequentially, Hon’ble Allahabad High Court has
also quashed all the actions and demands of the farmers of Bharatiya Kisan
Union Lok Shakti United (“Petitioner”/ “Bharatiya Kisan Union Lok
Sukta United”) treating them to be illegal. This Petition for special leave to
appeal under Article 136 has been duly authorized through Master Sheoraj
Singh the President of the farmers’ union, Bharatiya Kisan Union Lok
Sukta United on their behalf.
The Petitioner submits that the Impugned Judgment is liable to be set aside
for the following reasons, amongst others:
Respectfully showeth,
1. The respondents have concealed the fact that there was a binding
undertaking to pay the enhanced compensation but they have not informed the
court about it. A copy of the same is attached.
4. The true spirit and the rationale behind Gajraj Singh and Savitri Devi were
missed by the High Court. In Gajraj Singh, the acquisition was to be quashed
on the ground of not providing opportunity to raise objection under section
5(A) due to urgency. There was no urgency in the matter to dispense with
section 5(A) objections, so entire acquisitions were to be declared illegal. But
since developments have already taken place and common people have
invested their money, the court took the view that requirement of justice will
be served if higher compensation is paid to farmers instead of declaring the
acquisition illegal. Same was the situation in Savitri Devi. Though, strictly
speaking Savitri Devi says that it will not be treated as a precedent but the
general principle is sound and equally applicable to other similarly situated
acquisitions.
5. The respondents have taken the advantage of governmental power under the
Eminent Domain; they cannot wriggle out from their reciprocal responsibility.
6. The High Court has emphasized upon the language of the contract between
the government/authority and allottees but neither it was brought to the notice
of the court either by builders or by the government that after signing on the
contract, builders gave an undertaking in 2013 that if the government/authority
decide to enhance the compensation payable to the farmers, the allottees will
abide by that decision. Hence allottees (respondents) are estopped from
challenging the government decision.
Briefly stated the facts giving rise to the present petition are as follows:
(i) YEIDA was constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh under the Uttar
Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act, 1976 (“the Act”) for
stimulating the development of the land between NOIDA and Agra
along the Yamuna River. For this purpose, land was either acquired
by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894 for the benefit of the YEIDA, or directly purchased by the
YEIDA under sale deeds from farmer – landowners. The
Government Order applies to the land viz. approximately 9354
hectares of land in Gautam Budh Nagar and
by extension to land which reaches up to Agra.
(iv) In 2013, due to the agitations of the farmer groups, several allottees
of the Petitioner - YEIDA sent written representations to the YEIDA
that the agitations by the farmer groups had created great hindrances
in the development and construction work of these allottees on the
aforesaid land. It was also informed by some of the allottees that the
construction work had been stopped by the farmer groups and they
were demanding additional compensation for their land. These
allottees categorically stated that they did not oppose the payment of
additional compensation and that they would abide by any decision
taken in this regard by the competent authority. To resolve the issues
raised by the farmers, the Chaudhary Committee was setup by the
Government of Uttar Pradesh vide memo dated September 3, 2013.
After due consultations with various stakeholders including the
farmer groups, the allottees and YEIDA, the Chaudhary Committee
made several recommendation, including the payment of an
additional compensation to the tune of 64.70% as a “no litigation
incentive” for withdrawing the petitions challenging the acquisition
proceedings and for giving an undertaking to not institute any
litigation or create hinderance in the development work of the
YEIDA. Based on the recommendations of the Chaudhary
Committee, the Government of Uttar Pradesh issued the
Government Order directing payment of 64.7% additional
compensation as “no litigation incentive” in the terms stated above.
In addition, the order stipulated that the cost of additional
compensation could be recovered from the allottees. The
Government Order as also the subsequent orders dated 4 November
2015 and 14 September 2016 through which certain amendments
were made and approved by the Cabinet of the State Government
(vii) On May 28, 2020, the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court passed the
common order and judgment, erroneously holding that the
Government Order is illegal, invalid and liable to be ignored and
that the YEIDA Board Decision and YEIDA’s demands pursuant
thereto were illegal and therefore quashed. Hence the Appellant
seeks to file the present Special Leave Petition.
March 02, The YEIDA flouts the Residential Plot Scheme, 2009
2009 (1) (“Residential Plot Scheme”) and invites
application for allotment of residential plots along
under construction Noida-to-Agra Yamuna
Expressway in the scheme at the rate of Rs. 4,750/-
per sq mtrs.
A copy of the Residential Plot Scheme, 2009 dated
March 02, 2009 is annexed here with and marked as
Annexure P-3 at page No.