By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 2 Dec: The Uttarakhand High Court has upheld the stay on construction and development activities over disputed Nazul land in Rudrapur. The Court has also directed Rudrapur Municipal Corporation and the State Government to file their responses within two weeks in this regard. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, while hearing the case, ordered that the interim ban on all activities on the land will continue until further orders, with the next hearing scheduled after two weeks.
It may be reminded here that the case pertains to the allegations of illegal transfer and freeholding of approximately 4.07 acres (16,500 square metres) of Nazul land falling under Khasra Number 2 of Revenue Village Lamara, Rudrapur. The petitioner, Rambabu, a former municipal councillor of the Rudrapur Municipal Corporation had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) under Article 226 of the Constitution, alleging collusion between government officials and private stakeholders in the process of converting the land into freehold property.
According to the petition, the land was originally a water body and was auctioned in 1988 on a two-year lease for fisheries development. The petition further states that the successful bidders however neither accepted the lease nor carried out any fishing activity. Instead, they allegedly occupied the land illegally without any valid lease agreement. The petition further claims that through deceit and collusion with authorities, the private respondents managed to obtain freehold rights over the land under their illegal possession.
The petition has also alleged that in order to conceal the irregularities, the original Khasra Number 2 of Village Lamara was altered to Khasra Number 156 of Revenue Village Rampura during the freeholding process, creating serious discrepancies in the revenue records. The freeholding was allegedly carried out at the outdated auction rates of 1988, despite the land’s present market value running into hundreds of crores of rupees, thereby causing massive losses to the state exchequer.
The petition also states that after acquiring freehold rights, the private respondents entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with a construction company and were preparing to build a large shopping mall on the land.
It may be recalled that the High Court had earlier imposed a complete ban on construction and development activities on the site. During the current hearing, the state government and the municipal corporation sought additional time to file affidavits. The Court granted them two weeks but maintained the stay order in force.
The matter has attracted public attention in Rudrapur, with concerns being raised about the misuse of Nazul land, which is meant for public purposes. It remains to be seen if this case can set an important precedent towards safeguarding government land from illegal occupation and fraudulent freehold practices.
