Taking note of a petition highlighting that a chunk of farmers’ land in Faridabad was acquired by the Haryana government in 1974 but its compensation had not been paid till date, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Saturday sought complete details of all such land acquisition cases across Haryana along with the explanation as to why compensation was not paid to the farmers. Watch What Else is Making News The court also sought details of the responsible officers in all such cases. The division bench comprising Justices Rajesh Bindal and Harinder Singh Sidhu made clear that if the Secretary of the state Town and Country Planning Department, Arun Kumar Gupta, fails to file a satisfactory reply, he should remain present in court on the next date of hearing. “The respondents shall file an affidavit of the secretary of the concerned department giving complete details of different acquisitions and explaining reasons as to why the compensation was not paid to the landowners and if paid, why the actual physical possession of the acquired land was not taken,”ordered the court. The order came during the hearing of a petition moved by Faridabad farmers Mukhtiar Singh and others seeking release of their land from acquisition as per Section 24(2) of theLand Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
