HC quashes all petitions against Kamal Vihar scheme in C'garh

In a major relief to the state government, the Chhattisgarh High Court has quashed all the 23 petitions filed against the Kamal Vihar town development scheme of the Raipur Development Authority (RDA).
Justice Prashant Mishra yesterday dismissed all the petitions filed by the project-affected persons, who alleged that the provisions of land acquisition, compensation as well as that of Chhattisgarh Town and Country Planning were flouted while developing the Kamal Vihar township, public prosecutor Sumesh Bajaj told PTI.
The RDA had conceived the Kamal Vihar integrated township scheme in the year 2008, which was to be developed on around 416 acres of land in some of the villages, including Boreakhurd, Dunda, Dumartarai and others, located on the outskirts of Raipur on old Dhamtari road.

However, in 2009, the authority increased the township area to around 2,300 acres and issued a notification in this regard. The government titled the scheme as Kamal Vihar Yojna in 2010.
However, some of those, whose lands were acquired for the project filed more than 23 petitions stating that provisions of land acquisitions, compensation, central environment clearance and Chhattisgarh Town and Country Planning were violated during the land acquisition process, Bajaj said.
During the previous hearings, the court had questioned the state government as well as RDA in this connection and the government had ruled out any foul play in the project and said the norms were strictly followed during the land acquisition.

Meanwhile, some petitioners turned back and withdrew their petitions, while the court had reserved its verdict for the rest of the 23 petitions, Bajaj added.
On Monday, the court rejected all the petitions in its 45-page decision, he said.