BALWANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners seek quashing of the decision of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd.-respondent No.2, whereby they have chosen to give employment to only those families whose entire land or land more than 2 acres has been acquired for setting up of the Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant at Khedar, District Hisar.

(2.) The plea is based on the ground that an announcement had been made by the respondents at the time of laying the foundation stone of the Power Plant that each and every affected families whose land had been acquired would be given employment and policy dated 19.05.2007 (Annexure P-2) had been formulated. In pursuance of the said policy, the subsequent decision, as such, to restrict the grant of employment only to those villagers whose complete land had been acquired or more than 2 acres had been acquired, was, thus, primarily challenged on the basis of promissory estoppel.

(3.) A perusal of the pleadings would go on to show that notification had been issued in the year 1998 under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for acquiring land situated in the revenue estate of Village Khedar, Tehsil and District Hisar, for setting up the project by the respondent-Corporation. On account of the discontentment amongst the villagers for the acquisition of their land, promise had been held out to grant employment to one member of every family and a list had been drawn up for the said purpose (Annexure P-1). On account of the assurance, as such, the land of the village was acquired, without any opposition, as such, by the villagers, at that point of time. The promise had been gone back on by restricting the benefit of job only to those persons whose more than 2 acres of land or complete land had been acquired for the project. It is, accordingly, pleaded that the Prime Minister had visited the village and the stage was shared by the Chief Minister, wherein the policy had been announced of giving employment to one member of each of the families on 19.05.2007.