New Delhi:
In a relief to former athlete Milkha Singh, the Supreme Court today set aside the notification taking away land from him by the Chandigarh administration.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and V Gopala Gowda said that proper procedure was not followed by the administration under the Land Acquisition Act.
Milkha Singh and other land owners had filed detailed objections as per the provision of the Act.
The Land Acquisition Officer, however, submitted a report with the recommendation that the land be acquired which was accepted by the authority.
Mr Singh along with other land owners then moved Punjab and Haryana High Court which upheld the decision of the authority. They then challenged the order in the apex court which,
after going through the record, quashed the notification.
"We agree with the learned counsel for the appellants that the report of the Land Acquisition Officer was vitiated due to total non-application of mind by the concerned officer to large number of substantive objections raised by the appellants.
"He mechanically rejected the objections and senior officers of the Chandigarh Administration accepted the report of the Land Acquisition Officer despite the fact that the same had been prepared in violation of the Act," it said.