Revision as of 13:29, 23 February 2015

SC: Lengthy land acquisition process breeds corruption

From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN

New Delhi: The woefully long land acquisition process, often marred by arbitrary exclusion and deletion of areas, breeds touts, middlemen and corruption, the Supreme Court has said and asked the government — “Can a large number of citizens be not spared of this traumatic experience?”

The case in hand was Bangalore Development Authority’s controversial ‘Arkavarthi Town or Layout’ in which a former CM and now a cabinet minister in the UPA was spared the blushes by the division bench of the High Court. The division bench had not only upheld the Layout scheme, but also expunged stinging remarks against the politician by the single-judge bench, which had set aside the land acquisition proceedings.

Though the apex court upheld the scheme after giving it a tweak here and there and providing better compensation, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and D K Jain did find evidence that there were degrees of arbitrariness in acquisition. It said the manner in which the village lands were included and then deleted from the notification waxed the view that there was no proper survey or application of mind while formulating the Arkavarthy development scheme.

“If large areas are notified and then large extents are to be deleted, it breeds corruption and nepotism among officials,” said the Bench, adding it also created hostility, mutual distrust and disharmony among the villagers, dividing them on the lines of ‘those who can influence and get their lands deleted’ and ‘those who cannot’. “Touts and middlemen flaunting political connections flourish, extracting money for getting lands deleted from acquisition notification. Why subject a large number of citizens to such traumatic experience? Why not plan properly before embarking upon acquisition process,” asked Justice Raveendran, who authored the judgment for the bench.

Properties of defence personnel

The Times of India Feb 16 2015

A Subramani

Court orders return of 7.83 acres in Chennai

Govt can't acquire properties of freedom fighters:HC

Ruling that moveable and immoveable properties held by freedom fighters and defence personnel should never be acquired by government for any purpose, the Madras high court has ordered return of 7.83 acres of land, worth several crores now, at Maraimalai Nagar, near chengalpet, to children of a freedom fighter. “Could the selfless sacrifices of such stalwarts as Mahatma Gandhi and others get obliterated overnight by a simple piece of unconsidered land acquisition? Freedom fighters, defence personnel and their family members are shouldering the security of 125 crore-strong population of India. Therefore, their assets -moveable and immoveable properties -should not be disturbed at any cost,“ said Justice C S Karnan in an order.

Freedom fighter Subbiah was among five beneficiaries for whom 50 acres of land was allotted a year after Independence. As his share Subbiah got 7.83 acres by a 1948 order which de-reserved a portion of reserved forests at Kattankulathur near Maraimalai Nagar. Subbiah died in 1973. In 1974, the lands were acquired for the Maraimalai Nagar neighbourhood scheme, which envisaged developing residential plots to house about 1 lakh people.

Fourteen years later, in 1986, a compensation of `2.68 lakh for the acquired land was announced, and deposited in a civil court as the sum could not be apportioned among the four children of Subbiah. Till date the family has not received any compensation, his son S Balasubramaniam said. After many rounds of litigation and contempt proceedings, he filed a petition in the HC saying the acquired land was still under their physical possession and that even 29 years after acquisition the land remained vacant. Lands acquired for residential purposes had been used for industrial and commercial purposes, as is evident from the fact that a car company had been allotted some portions, he said. CMDA counsel, however, claimed that copies of several communications furnished in court were bogus and said the petitioners were trying to mislead the court. He said CMDA was in possession of the land and that vacant lands were meant for public facilities such as parks and power poles.

Rejecting the submissions, Justice Karnan said the order of acquisition could not be sustained because it had come against a 1948 order of allotment. Neighbourhood schemes are not of more paramount importance than freedom fighters, he said, adding that the family of Subbiah was cultivating the land for the last 66 years. “It will be extremely painful to dislodge them at this juncture,“ he said.

The judge also pointed the acquired properties had been utilized for industrial and commercial purposes “which is against the purpose for which the land had been originally acquired.“ He then directed CMDA and other authorities to reconvey the lands to the blood relatives of the freedom fighter within two months.