NAND KISHORE GUPTA Vs. STATE OF UP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will govern Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 33194 of 2009, 33958 of 2009 and 35336 of 2009.

(2.) Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions.

(3.) In the first two Special Leave Petitions, judgment passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad dated 30.11.2009, is in challenge while in the third Special Leave Petition, judgment dated 5.10.2009 on the same subject is impugned. By the impugned judgments, the Writ Petitions filed by the land owners challenging the notification under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter called Rs. the Act for short) relating to Yamuna Expressway Project, were dismissed by the High Court. In the Writ Petitions, directions were sought, firstly not to give effect to the notifications issued and further not to dispossess the landholders/ petitioners after demolishing their constructions on the lands which were proposed to be acquired. All the challenges were repelled by the High Court. The High Court, in the judgment dated 30.11.2009 passed in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 31314 of 2009 Nand Kishore Gupta and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors., basically pointed out that out of 12,282 land owners, 11,397 had already received their compensation under the agreement and the challenge related only to 21.03 hectares out of 1,604 hectares of land. The High Court also took the view that the scales of justice must tilt towards the right to development of the millions who will be benefited from the road and the development of the area, as against the human rights of 35 petitioners therein, whose main complaint was that they were not heard before the declaration under Section 6 of the Act. The High Court also declined to give any direction to the State Government to consider to exempt 21.03 hectares of land relating to the 35 petitioners therein on account of the fact that the construction of the road had to be made in an alignment and that alignment could not be changed. Identical view was taken in another Writ Petition filed by one Balbir Singh. The High Court also expressed its concerns that any direction to exempt the land covered by the construction might seriously jeopardize the Project. The High Court also reiterated that the acquisition of the land for interchange of the road was the essential part of the Project, as also the construction of bridges, culverts and interchanges, which were essential for the fast moving six lane Expressway.