Haryana government moves SC over DLF Gurgaon land scrapping case

New Delhi, October 09, 2014 – After Haryana government moved Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision to cancel 350 acres of land allotted to realty giant DLF in Gurgaon for a recreational project, the apex court scheduled hearing in the case for two weeks later.

On September 4, a division bench headed by Justice Surya Kant has cancelled government’s auction of 350.7 acres of prime land in Gurgaon on Wednesday which real estate major DLF had bagged for Rs 1,703 crore. It cancelled the auction on technical grounds, which is not likely to bring any relief to the villagers who had challenged the government’s move to allow DLF to commercially exploit the land after having acquired it for recreational use.

In 2009, DLF, Unitech and Rajarhat IT Park Ltd had participated in the auction. However, the bids of Unitech and Rajarhat IT Park were cancelled as they failed to meet the minimum technical requirements like having developed and managed golf course in the past. That left DLF as the sole bidder. And it was on this ground that the high court struck down the auction.

The land lies between sectors 42-54 and 43-53 and is behind DLF Phase V. According to the bid condition, the auction-winner had to develop an 18-hole golf course along with low-rise residential units on the land.

While cancelling the allotment of land to DLF, the court directed the state government to complete the process of fresh allotment of the land through a global auction within one month. The court also permitted DLF to participate in the fresh auction.

A bunch of petitions had accused the state government of acquiring the land from farmers in Wazirabad village for ‘public purpose’ to develop a recreational project and later auctioning it for commercial activities. The bench, however, upheld the land acquisition process of the state government.

Haryana government had claimed the process followed in the project was “transparent”.

Haryana Secretary Industries YS Malik had told reporters, “Whatever process was followed (in Gurgaon project) that was transparent as per our understanding. Where we committed mistake, we will come to know after reading the order.” Asked about next line of action, he said they will decide after studying the order in detail. “…as far as Wednesday’s High Court order is concerned, we will see where we committed mistake or where not…it will be known only after going through the court’s judgment,” Malik said. PTI