The cases had placed around 1.5 lakh home-buyers and 9000 acres of farm land in Greater Noida in a state of uncertainty.
Lakhs of apartment owners can breathe easy after the Supreme Court today ended the uncertainty over land acquisition in more than 60 villages in Greater Noida. The top court on Thursday dismissed petitions filed by both farmers of the region, as well as the Greater Noida authority. Meanwhile, the farmers of the region have said they may be left with no option but to hit the streets again in protest.
While the farmers from 67 villages in the area had approached the Supreme Court asking for higher compensation for land acquired from them by the Greater Noida authority, as well as an increase in the amount of developed land that was to be returned to them. The Allahabad High Court had earlier granted the farmers 64 per cent extra compensation and ordered that 10 per cent of the developed land be returned.
The Greater Noida authority, which had acquired the land from the farmers, had sought the Supreme Court's intervention asking that only five per cent of the developed land be returned. The authority, under the previous Mayawati government, had acquired the land between 2006 and 2008 ostensibly at first for industries, but then sold off to private land developers.
The Supreme Court ruling has meant that the order passed by the Allahabad High Court has to be implemented.
The case had placed a question mark over a 100 projects spread out across 9000 acres, with more than 1.5 lakh flat owners facing uncertainty.
The Supreme Court ruling has now given hope to home-buyers, who have expressed hope that delayed projects will now see completion and that the flats they had booked would be handed over to them.
But the Supreme Court ruling has made the farmers an unhappy lot. Some have been asked to sign lease deeds for their houses in their villages, and refusing to do so could mean eviction. Farmer community leaders say that they will consider appealing to a larger bench of the Supreme Court. The UPA had brought its Land Acquisition Bill after bloody clashes between villagers and police in nearby Bhatta Parasul.