New Delhi, July 24 : Against the backdrop of the Noida land controversy, Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia today termed as the “biggest problem” the situation in which the Supreme Court is called upon to give ex-post facto approval to buildings and projects after crores have been invested.
“The most acute problem over the years the Supreme court has faced is that the plans, the buildings, the projects come up and suddenly at the end a PIL comes and we are required to decide ex-post facto approval.”
“This is the biggest problem the which Supreme Court is facing. Should crores of investment be just thrown out or should we give ex-post facto approval. If so, in what cases?” he said at an international seminar here.
His remarks came as buyers of flats in Greater Noida prepare to move the Supreme Court challenging Allahabad High Court orders quashing acquisition of about 750 hectares of land acquired by the UP government from farmers and given to builders for setting up multi-storeyed residential apartments.
The Allahabad High Court had recently cancelled the land allotments in Noida Extension- Shahberi and Patwari villages- on the charge that the state government had not given adequate compensation to farmers whose fields were bought and later sold to private builders.
Some of these projects are nearing completion and the order would lead to demolition of flats and loss of crores of rupees.
The CJI was apparently referring to such cases though he did not name the projects. Kapadia said local bodies also create problems for the Supreme Court when they first approve a project but backtrack later.
“We have village durbars and some local bodies which give OK, NOC but after sometime they object to the project coming up. How do we deal with this? Even in public participation views can change for certain reasons at a later date,” he said.
The Chief Justice suggested that the British legal system could give India some directions in this regard as UK has devised some concepts to face this challenge.PTI
