HC seeks reply from UP on petitions against land acquisition

The Allahabad High Court today asked Uttar Pradesh government to file reply on a bunch of petitions challenging acquisition of about 3.5 lakh hectares of land in a village in Ghaziabad district for construction of a highway.
A division bench comprising justices Arun Tandon and A K Mishra ordered that status quo be maintained with respect to the land until further orders.
It was hearing petitions filed by Jagdish Prasad and 29 other residents of village Gorta of Ghaziabad, where 3,49,980 hectares of land was acquired by the state government vide notification dated December 31, 2013 for the "Northern Peripheral Road" project, a six-lane highway meant for the heavy traffic between Delhi and cities like Meerut, Kanpur and Lucknow.

The petitioners have alleged that they were agriculturalists dependent on the acquired land for their livelihood and the state government had went on with the acquisition process unmindful of the hardships they were likely to face in the aftermath.
A preliminary objection was raised by the state government's counsel who contended that the acquisition of land was "in public interest".
The court has fixed March 03 as the next date of hearing in the matter.