Farmer moves court on 35-year old land acquisition by government

A farmer from Gautam Buddh Nagar district, whose land was acquired by the UP government under the 'urgency clause' 35 years ago, moved the Allahabad High Court today challenging the acquisition proceedings.

According to the petitioner while the land owners got only a ''nominal'' compensation, Noida authorities had started selling plots that had remained vacant for over three decades for a handsome price to private builders.

Liley Ram, the petitioner, a resident of Suthiana village of Gautam Buddh Nagar, owned 33 acres of land at Chaura Salatpur village which is now included in Sectors 32 and 25-A of Noida.

The land was acquired with the notification of the state government date 1 June1976 and 16 September 1976 effecting the acquisition of a total of 1600 acres, belonging to several farmers.

According to the petitioner, the government had invoked the urgency clause "without any tangible urgency" while claiming that the land was needed for "planned industrial development of Noida" and he received a compensation at the "nominal" rate of Rs6 per square yard.

Meanwhile, the Greater Noida Authority raced against time yesterday to hand out higher compensation cheques to more than half of Patwari villagers before the Allahabad high court's deadline for reaching an out-of-court settlement ran out last night.