Criticising the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) for acquiring and using agricultural lands for the development of New Bombay (now Navi Mumbai) township and not compensating the farmers concerned for more than 25 years, the Bombay high court has directed the development corporation to deposit the amount with the special land acquisition officer (SLAO) within four weeks.
Terming Cidco’s stand as “totally unreasonable and arbitrary”, a division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and S M Modak on April 29, observed: “CIDCO being a public undertaking and being an implementing agency, is bound to comply with its obligation under the Government Resolution. The refusal to comply with its obligations frustrates the crystallized claims of the petitioners for compensation whose lands are acquired 25 years ago.”
The HC was hearing a petition filed by nine villagers from Roadpali Village in Navi Mumbai, which was acquired by the CIDCO for developing Navi Mumbai. The petition sought that the government and the CIDCO be directed to compensate them as decided by the HC in 2007.
Between 1965 and 1970, the state government decided to establish a new town to reduce pressure on Mumbai by exercising powers under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTPA). It accordingly notified lands on which 96 villages were situated, as the site for New Bombay, and commenced acquisition proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The petitioners contended that they had accepted the meagre compensation awarded to them under protest. On December 23, 1993, the reference court determined the market rate between Rs 200 to Rs 230 per sq mt for acquiring land in Village Roadpali. On June 21, 2007, the HC revised this amount as per the market rate at Rs 1,725 per sq mt. Following this, the government, issued a resolution on February 12, 2008, directing the CIDCO to pay the enhanced compensation.
The government did not challenge the said decision. However, in 2009, the CIDCO challenged this before the Supreme Court.
Pending this, one claimant filed an appeal which was allowed and CIDCO allowed them to withdraw Rs 1,06,37,513. Besides, it also disbursed compensation at the rate of Rs 1,725 per sq mt in 28 cases.
Interestingly, CIDCO filed an affidavit in the HC, stating, “if at this juncture, a large amount of land compensation is given to the Project Affected Persons as per the order, it will enormously affect the cash flow of the CIDCO and financial position of the CIDCO will get deteriorated, which may cause a significant impact on the development of Navi Mumbai Projects”.
Petitioners pointed out to the court that the CIDCO has been selling or giving on lease a large number of plots at exorbitant rates and has no fund problems. In any case, the CIDCO cannot refuse to comply with its part of the obligation - that of compensating the farmers.
Terming the CIDCO’s excuse as frivolous, the HC observed: “There is no substance in the submissions of CIDCO that there is a shortage of funds or that the funds are required for several projects and on that ground, CIDCO is unable to deposit any amount insofar as these petitioners are concerned.”
Taking note of the fact that some 28 claimants were allowed to withdraw their money, the HC said: “In our view, the CIDCO has selected certain claimants and has deposited the compensation only in respect of those selected cases and has ignored the claims of these poor farmers for the reasons best known to CIDCO. All the claimants were awarded compensation and have not been treated equally by CIDCO while depositing the amount.”
The HC has allowed the petitioners to approach the reference court for withdrawal of their amounts after the CIDCO has deposited the same with the SLAO.
In March this year, the HC had directed the CIDCO to clear the dues of 80 villagers whose lands had been acquired for setting up Navi Mumbai. Then too, the HC had rapped the CIDCO for taking “flimsy grounds” that it did not have funds to pay the compensation.
