On Thursday, in a major relief to the allottees of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) land in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, the High Court of Allahabad said neither the State Govt nor the development authorities could recover the increased compensation given to farmers whose land was acquired from the allottees without any prior agreement.
Ruling that any extra demand made by Yeida from the allottees was illegal, the court quashed all such demand orders.
With this, the bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal & Justice VC Dixit allowed a bunch of petitions filed by Shakuntla Educational & Welfare Society & various other builders & Trusts.
On Aug 29, 2014, the State Govt had passed an order mentioning that due to the farmers’ stir & legal complications, an out of court settlement with the farmers offering them 64.7% more compensation for their acquired land was necessary provided they withdrew their petitions challenging the acquisition proceedings. “The Govt directed for the payment of 64.7% additional amount to the farmers & to recover it from the allottees of the land,” said that order.
However, the petitioners’ contention was that the State Govt was recovering increased compensation from the allottees though it never modified terms & conditions of the contract & in the absence of the same the State Govt had no right to recover any excess compensation from the petitioners.
The petitioners contented that “Any rights, on the basis of a concluded or final contract or lease, which have been crystallised in favour of any party cannot be taken away by framing a policy on some later date. A policy so framed would be prospective in nature & cannot affect the contracts already finalised. Any such policy which is unilaterally framed disturbing the rights which have accrued to a party would clearly be violative of Articles 14 & 16 of the Constitution".
Yeida representatives could not be reached for comment.
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