Govt can’t grab land under ‘public purpose’ guise: SC

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it will subject the government's land acquisition drives to strict scrutiny as it does not want poor people to be rendered landless to benefit a few wealthy or influential people. 

"If public purpose can be satisfied by not rendering the common man homeless and by exploring other avenues of acquisition, the courts, before sanctioning an acquisition, must exercise their power of judicial review, and focus their attention on the concept of social and economic justice," said a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly. 

Quashing acquisition of land by the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a jail in Shahjahanpur, the court said though the right to property was not a fundamental right, most other rights were closely related to property rights. "It has to be accepted that without right to some property, other rights become illusory," the bench said.

While scrapping the Uttar Pradesh government's order to acquire land under emergency clause (without hearing the land-owners) for constructing the jail, the court further described the law as of "colonial vintage" and "a drastic law." 

The land acquisition was to take place in Shahjahanpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Moradabad and the notification was issued during the tenure of former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It noted that citizens' fundamental rights have been expanded by judicial interpretations. "This court is of the opinion that the concept of public purpose in land acquisition has to be viewed from an angle which is consistent with the concept of welfare state," the court said.