Allahabad High Court land order creates panic
The phones kept ringing all-day at the offices of Investors Clinic, a leading real estate broker in Noida. Customers who booked their flats at Noida Extension want to know if their project fell on disputed land. ‘‘Customers want to know whether their flats would be ready on time. They are sceptical and some even want to cancel their booking,’’ said an executive.
A senior manager at the brokerage, however, tried to play down the concerns. ‘‘We are getting a lot of queries, and asking them to hold on. The Greater Noida Authority is in discussions with the farmer and a solution is round the corner. Some developers like Amrapali are shifting affected customers to another project,’’ he said.
There’s confusion and panic in the market. Although the Allahabad High Court order issued last week cancelling the land acquisition at Greater Noida’s Sahberi village affects only four-five projects, the idea that has been projected is that all projects in Noida Extension have been impacted.
Brokers and developers refuted reports of a drop in prices. ‘‘There’s no chance of drop in prices. The average price is Rs 1,800-2,000 per sq ft at which we are finding it difficult to survive,” said Anuj Chowdhary, director, Panchasheel Group. ‘‘We have not received a single application for refund but customers are scared,’’ he admitted.
In rulings on two separate but similar cases issued on May 12 and 13, the Allahabad High Court had quashed the acquisition of land by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority in the Chak and Sahberi areas in Greater Noida. A day after annulling acquisition of nearly 157 hectares of land in Greater Noida, the court on Friday annulled the acquisition of 72 hectares by the GNIDA in Surajpur village; developers say this land is in a different area.
In these cases, the state had invoked emergency powers under Section 17 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which dispenses with the right of the landowner to be heard by the land acquiring agency. The authorities had argued the land was needed on an urgent basis for planned industrial development.
They had argued that a public inquiry would delay the land acquisition. The court has held that invoking section 17 (1) of the Act was “illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and was in colourable exercise of power”.
“No new bookings are taking place and existing customers are panicking. There is a misconception that the whole of Noida Extension has been affected. Very few even know where Sahberi village starts and ends,” said Chowdhary of Panchasheel Group.
Supertech has a 50-acre development in the area (Eco Village), of which only 10-acre was in Sahberi village; the rest was in the neighbouring Etahera village. AIMS Group had a 110-acre development in Sahberi, but surrendered the same to the authority. Amrapali had a 105-acre development (Smart City), which fell in Sahberi. Brokers say the builder has decided to shift 1,200 buyers to its Dream Valley project.
Another builder Mahagun (Mywoods) has a 50-acre development in the area, of which nearly half was in Sahberi village and the other half in neighbouring Aibatpur village. Similarly, Gaursons has a project, where five acres in Sahberi and the remaining are in the neighbouring Aibatpur village.
Luckily, developers had not started construction.
Brokers and developers are confident of a solution. “The authority is renegotiating with the farmers and offering them a fresh package. Once farmers are satisfied, they will have to file an affidavit in the court to take the court’s consent to sell the land,’’ says a developer. Till such time, Sahberi’s shadow will continue to haunt Noida Extension.