CHANDIGARH: Claiming to be the rightful owner of lands held by the previous gram panchayat in UT villages, the Chandigarh municipal corporation has sought release of approximately Rs 32 crore, which was paid by the Chandigarh administration as the land acquisition award for acquiring some of these chunks of land.
For the last 15 to 20 years, all this amount has been lying unused with the reference courts because of legal issues surrounding the compensation awarded and land ownership.
The MC has written to the UT land acquisition officer detailing the land acquired in Chandigarh villages which earlier came under gram panchayat jurisdiction, but were later brought under the MC purview.
The administration had acquired four major chunks of land for different purposes between 2004 and 2009 in the Chandigarh villages.
In March 2004, around 652 kanal were acquired in Maloya for urban development, flood protection and allied development, and a land acquisition award of Rs 7.05 cr was paid to the gram panchayat and deposited in a bank in Maloya.
For development of the modern terminal market, Sector 39, around 148 kanal were acquired in June 2009 and compensation was deposited under Section 31 of the Land Acquisition Act in the reference court in March 2014. In Maloya village, land was acquired for Rs 6.14 crore in Sept 2009 for construction of rehabilitation colonies for slum dwellers. The compensation was deposited by the administration in the reference court in April 2010.
Another block of village land was acquired in Oct 2009, and compensation of Rs 2.25 cr was deposited in the reference court in March 2010.
In the letter to the UT land acquisition officer, the MC said, “As per the judgment dated April 7, 2022 of the Supreme Court, the Chandigarh municipal corporation is the owner of these lands.”
“Therefore, necessary further action for releasing the compensation relating to these lands amounting to Rs 31.79 crores along with accrued interest should be expedited at the earliest,” the MC letter said.
“Previously, villagers had contested that these lands belonged to them, and compensation should be paid to them and not the gram panchayat,” said an official.
The SC vide its judgment dated April 7, 2022 decided land once added to common pool shall continue to vest in gram panchayat whether it is utilised or not since planning is not a one-time activity but a continuous process (Jai Singh decision was reverted).
It was also decided that in case area comes under the MC jurisdiction, it cannot be treated as a case of acquisition with no compensation.
The SC also directed that all the sales within these lands should also be reverted and plan should be prepared to reclaim these lands. The SC said some persons already took compensation for acquisition of these lands, list of which should also be taken from LAO UT and amount of compensation should be demanded from them.
