Allahabad: The Allahabad high court on Friday reserved the judgment in the land acquisition cases filed by farmers of Noida, Greater Noida and Noida extension in Gautambudh Nagar district of UP.
The larger bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice S U Khan and Justice V K Shukla reserved the verdict after hearing the counsels of all the parties for more than a fortnight.
About 500 writ petitions were filed by farmers of about four dozen villages where their lands were acquired by Noida and Greater Noida authorities invoking the urgency clause under Section 17 (1) and 17 (4) of the Land Acquisition Act that dispenses with the hearing required to be given to the land owners under Section 5-A of the Act.
The farmers had challenged the acquisition of 3,000 hectares arguing that the government had taken their valuable land at throwaway prices by invoking the “urgency clause” that even deprived them of an opportunity to raise objections.
Following that, a full bench began hearing the petitions filed by the farmers who had demanded quashing of acquisition proceedings.
The arguments of the petitioners’ counsel, apart from others, was mainly that the government changed the land use and gave their land to private builders. They claimed that their land was acquired for industrial purpose but was utilized otherwise.

Noida farmers threatened at a panchayat on Sunday that if their demand of regularizing shops on abadi land without any fee was not met, they would block construction work at housing projects from September 21.

They also threatened the Noida Authority that they would take Authority officials hostage if they come to Noida villages to conduct a survey of the abadi land. Another group of Noida farmers have threatened to gherao Authority officials in their Sector 6 office in Harola on September 23.

However, the government seemed to have toughened its stand. In a meeting in Lucknow between the Uttar Pradesh government and Noida CCEO Balwinder Kumar on Sunday evening, it was decided that changes would be brought in the Abadi Niyamawali (bylaws), giving the Noida Authority the powers to decide the rate which the farmers would have to pay for regularizing the commercial establishments.

“The current rate of regularization of commercial establishments is 125-200% more than residential areas. We will hold a meeting with the farmers to reach a consensus and decide what needs to be paid by them in order to regularize their shops etc in the abadi areas,” said Kumar.

The Authority has maintained that another survey of all abadi claims is essential to confirm the bonafide owners and determine the exact abadi area and the areas where shops and other commercial establishments have come up.

For regularizing commercial areas, which the Authority treats as encroachment, farmers are required to pay a fee. The farmers, particularly those in villages like Barola, Harola, Naya Bans and Nithari, running shops, restaurants etc are claiming these were part of their abadi land and, hence, be left untouched. They have also demanded that the Authority must give them a freehold right on their abadi land instead of leasing it to them.

On Sunday, farmers from 30 villages gathered at the panchayat in Vrindavan Garden in Hoshiyarpur. It began around 10am and continued till 12.30pm, following which the farmers tore and set on fire the abadi regularizing list released by the Authority. On Friday, the Authority released the final list of the 1,095 families in 12 villages who will get the 5% developed plots in the first phase in which a total of 118 acres land will be distributed.

After a day of heavy-duty negotiations between the Noida Authority and farmer leaders on Monday, they still do not seem to have arrived at a compromise on the issue of abadi (residential) land regularisation. The farmers have said that no agreement has been reached in this regard, and their agitation planned for September 21 would continue.

However, senior officials of the Noida Authority presented a different picture, stating that there was consensus on most issues that the farmers had raised, with only one or two needing further negotiations.

The sticking points between the two sides pertain to regularisation of abadi land, including commercial establishments, the delay in handing over developed plots, and a land dispute in Sorkha village. On Saturday, the Noida Authority had released a list of 1,095 farmers from 12 villages whose abadi land would be regularised, and would be given 5 per cent developed plots.

Mahinder Awana, spokesperson of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said, “Only a small part of the abadi land has been regularised. Also, some of us have shops on our abadi land. We want them to be regularised without any fee, but the Authority says that we would only get them on lease. We want them to be given to us, freehold. It was part of our agreement on July 30, due to which we stopped agitating.”