Cannot acquire land and not pay compensation: Allahabad High Court

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has said that the state is not expected to take the land of the people and not pay compensation for it.

The court has sought the personal affidavits of the Additional Chief Secretaries of the concerned departments of Uttar Pradesh in this regard.

Hearing the petitions filed by Jeet Narain Yadav and two others, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Piyush Agrawal fixed December 3 as the next date of hearing.

All three petitioners had submitted that their land was taken but no compensation has been paid to them.

The court took a serious note of the submission and observed that it regularly hears such matters where either the land is acquired and possession thereof has been taken but no compensation has been paid or cases where possession has been taken without acquisition of land and without payment of compensation.

It was pointed out that land is mostly acquired by revenue department, public works department or irrigation department, following which the court directed the additional chief secretaries of the three departments to get a list of such cases pending in this court prepared along with the issues raised therein.

They have also been asked to apprise the court as to what steps have been taken to resolve the grievances of the petitioners as the state is not expected to take the land of people and not pay compensation for the same.