Written by: Express News Service
2 min readChandigarhApr 9, 2014 02:28 PM IST
First published on: Aug 1, 2013 at 06:31 AM IST
There was legal relief for BJP spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu on Wednesday after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Haryana government to re-determine its decision to acquire his land in Rohtak district that the state said it needed for a police complex.
Abhimanyu has stoutly opposed the acquisition and petitioned the high court alleging that his land (Sindhu Farms) was being acquired only because he belonged to the Opposition. About 20 acres belonging to the BJP leader at Marodhi Jatan village in Rohtak is part of around 200 acres of land that Haryana is in the process of acquiring after issuing notifications dated May 28,2009 and May 13,2010.
To corroborate his case,however,Abhimanyu produced a letter dated November 5,2008 and written by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP),Rohtak,who states that only 180 acres of land was required for the police complex. His counsels,advocates Chetan Mittal and Deepak Balyan,contended that the “excess land” was being acquired because Abhimanyu belongs to a political party in opposition.
They further argued that the land houses an orchid farm and its acquisition would be detrimental to ‘public interest’. The lawyers alleged that the state government did not consider the BJP leader’s objections to the acquisition.
Directing the Haryana principal secretary to re-determine the requirement of total land needed for the public purpose,the high court has also held that the state failed to assign any specific reason as to why “excess” land was being acquired.
“This figure acquires enormous significance in view of the fact that the petitioner’s land of about 20 acres has also been added though a major chunk of the acquired land belongs to gram panchayat,” ruled a division bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Surinder Gupta. It added: “It has to be kept in view that the land acquisition in excess to the need is indeed a burden on the state exchequer.”
The court has also ordered that the police department’s view should also be taken into consideration while re-determining Abhimanyu’s case.
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