MP High Court Reserves Verdict On Land Acquisition For Ujjain-Jaora Greenfield Four-Lane Project

UJJAIN (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has completed hearing three petitions challenging land acquisition for the Ujjain-Jaora Greenfield four-lane project being developed ahead of Simhastha Mahaparv-2028.

After around 20 minutes of arguments on Tuesday, the court reserved its verdict. Meanwhile, construction work under the project has already begun in some areas.

Appearing for the farmers, counsel Vishal Chauhan told the HC that rules were not followed during land acquisition in Sodang and other villages of Ujjain district.

He said claims and objections were required to be heard by the collector, but the hearings were conducted by the sub-divisional officer, while the orders were issued by the collector.

The petitioners have described this as a violation of a Supreme Court order. The farmers had also objected that a government road already exists near the proposed acquisition site.

They argued that if the alignment of the road were changed slightly, acquisition of their land could be avoided. They alleged that the administration passed the acquisition orders without considering their objections.

During the hearing, advocate general Prashant Singh, appearing for the State government, sought dismissal of the petitions, describing them as lacking merit.

He argued that the project is a major public-interest initiative being developed in view of the upcoming Simhastha and that it would not be appropriate to delay such an important project through petitions.

In response, the petitioners' counsel referred to the land acquisition law and earlier court orders, arguing that the authority to hear claims and objections and pass a legally justified order lies exclusively with the collector and cannot be exercised by any other officer.

Although the HC has completed hearing the petitions filed by farmers from three villages, construction work is continuing on other sections of the project.

The road base has been prepared near Chowki Jurnada village, and work is expected to accelerate once the rains subside.

Meanwhile, affected farmers have expressed dissatisfaction over compensation. They claimed that the government had announced compensation at four times the value of the acquired land, but they were being paid only twice the value.