Chandigarh:
In another setback to filmmaker Subhash Ghai, the Punjab and Haryana High court today quashed the allotment of 20 acre land allotted by the state government for construction of his film institute near Jhajjar, Haryana.
In May, the High Court had stayed Mr Ghai's company Mukta Arts from performing any activity on the 20-acre plot purchased from a gram panchayat in Haryana.
Mr Ghai planned to set up a film institute on the land bought in October 2010 in Badhsa village in Jhajjar district, some 25 kilometre from Gurgaon.
Earlier, hearing a plea filed by an ex-sarpanch that the land belonged to farmers and Haryana government or the panchayat can't lease it, the court had ruled ordered status quo to be maintained.
The Badhsa Gram Panchayat had sent a resolution to the Haryana government in January 2010, to permit them to sell land to Mukta Arts.
In September 2010, the government allowed the panchayat to sell 20 acres of land at the rate of Rs 2,409,000 per acre. The deal was sealed in October that year.
A court at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district had earlier dismissed a public suit filed by villagers against Mr Ghai acquiring the land.
(With inputs from IANS)