Summary:
The petitioners, Jaspal Singh and others, contended that the Dhanas-Mullanpur-Siswan road connecting Punjab to Dakashin Marg in Chandigarh was just 2 km from the proposed connecting road. He said the “appropriate government” was trying to project the acquisition of land for the construction of the 200 ft connectivity road to serve public purpose just to deprive the landowners of their legal rights enshrined under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Bagri added the intention was to especially deny 20 per cent reservation of land to landowners in case of urbanisation. Bagri said the UT Administrator, just prior to acquisition of land, also notified a “policy for land acquisition through negotiation”, which was in contravention of the mandatory procedure and provisions of the 2013 Act. Taking up the matter, the Bench referred the matter to another Bench hearing petitions filed in public interest..