Land taken for public use cannot be re-allotted: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has ruled that land acquired for “public purpose” cannot be further allotted to “other beneficiaries” who might be engaged in a private venture.

The apex court pulled up a division bench of Rajasthan high court which had approved a ‘so-called’ policy ignoring the fact that people with connection in the power corridors and the economically affluent had illegally taken possession of acquired land and raised construction.

“What the high court has done is to legitimise the transactions, which were declared illegal by this court and was clearly impermissible. The HC’s understanding of the so-called policy framed by the government was clearly erroneous,” a bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly held last week.

This bench had earlier scrapped allocation of farmers’ land in Greater Noida area by the Mayawati government to some builders and realty players who wanted to construct to commercial complexes, sky-rocket residential buildings, formula race tracks and multiplexes.

In this case, the government took away land from farmers at a throw-away price, saying it was needed for “public purpose”, but later passed it on to the rich and politically influential builders for putting up their dream projects. The state then charged many times more from the builders.