ILNS: The Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, in which the petitioner had asked for direction to the Allahabad High Court to dispose of a writ petition in three months. The top court said that it cannot direct the high court to expedite a matter, specifically within three months that the petition has asked for.
In the case (Kartar Singh vs The State of Uttar Pradesh And Ors) the petitioner had filed a writ petition before the Allahabad High Court, seeking issuance of writ of mandamus against Noida Development Authority for completion of the construction of a 45m wide road on either side of village Tilapatabad, Sector 93, Noida.
The petitioner had asked the high court to quash the order of the Chief Executive Officer, who had rejected the petitioner’s representation for the construction of that 45 m road over Arazi Khasra no.311 and 322 in the village.
The petitioner says that the said writ was last listed before the court in March 2019 and since then it has not been listed, despite many applications for listing. Moreover, the matter is for final hearing as a counter and rejoinders have already been placed.
The fact of the matter is this that prior to 1974 the government had granted lease to 47 persons on the land in plot no. 311 and 322 of Village Gejha Tilipattabad, Tehsil Dadri, District Gautam Budh Nagar for constructing residential houses.
Subsequently, on June 22, 1974, the SDM Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar approved the lease of 150 sq yards to 27 out of 47 persons for construction of houses.
That in 1976, the Noida Development Authority came into existence under the U.P. Industrial Area Development Act 1976. Between the period 1976 to 2000, the state government acquired the land in the Gautam Budh Nagar, including village Gejha Tilipattabad, District Gautam Budh Nagar. However, the land in plot no. 311 and 322 already being the state land, was not acquired. After the acquisition of the land it was transferred to the Noida Development Authority, but the land in plot no. 311 and 322 were not transferred to the Noida Authority. Hence, many people other than the lease holders encroached on the said land and constructed houses.
The Noida Authority carved out Sector 93 from the land transferred to it. The plots no. 311 and 322 were included in Sector 93. Sector 82 was carved out opposite to Sector 93. The authority, as per its planning, built a 45 m wide road between the two sectors i.e. 82 and 93. However, as around 200 m of the road had to cross through the village Gejha Tilpattabad from plot no. 311 and 322 which belonged to the state government and not transferred to the Noida Authority, this 45 m wide road was not connected to the said village.
The grievance of the residents of the village and nearby areas was that they had to face extreme difficulty in accessing the road due to non-completion of the road between Sectors 93 and 82.
Plots no. 311 and 322 were legally held by 47 leaseholders and a few others and most of the other residents are encroachers. Out of 47 leaseholders, most are ready and willing to be relocated from their land to some other place for construction of the road. Even the leaseholders have also filed a writ petition before the high court, seeking similar prayer and the same is also pending since 2017.
The leaseholders also filed a WP (C) No. 52078 of 2017 seeking similar prayer for of mandamus to the Noida Development Authority for construction of 45 m wide road on plot no. 311 and 322. In the said W.P. the leaseholders have also attached the affidavits given by them to the Noida Authority that they are willing to be relocated at some other place for the construction of 45-meter road on their land.
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The petitioner sought several reliefs by invoking writ of certiorari and mandamus:
a) “Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 08.09.2017 passed by respondent no.2, the Chief Executive Officer, NOIDA, Sector-6, NOIDA, Gautam Budh Nagar. Annexure no.9 to the writ petition).
b) “Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to complete 45 meters wide road and remove the waterlogged land and garbage over the road proposed to be constructed over the gata nos. 311 and 322 situated in village Gejha Tilpattabad, Tehsil Dadri District Gautam Budh Nagar between sector 93 to sector 82 NOIDA, District Gautam Budh Nagar within the stipulated period as fixed by this Hon’ble court.”