Launch schemes after complete land acquisition: UP to development bodies

The Uttar Pradesh government has asked industrial development authorities not to launch any plot schemes before completing land acquisition. On May 1, 2023, an order to this effect was issued by Nidhi Srivastava, special secretary to the UP government, to Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities.

This comes after the Allahabad High Court (HC) heard a petition filed by real estate developer ATS Infrastructure. According to the petition,  the Noida Authority had not provided the total group housing land. Also, the authority issued a cancellation letter, citing the developer’s failure to complete the project within the given time frame.

“In proposed allotment schemes, the authorities should not issue advertisements for allotment or sale if the parts of the land that belongs to landowners, have not been acquired or bought prior to the scheme. This order must be properly implemented,” stated the order. It was also mentioned that the high court had taken a strong view of the matter.

“It takes a lot of time to acquire this type of residual land. Due to this, the entire plot is not available to the allottee. Apart from this, punitive actions are also taken against the allottees of such allotted plots (for failure to complete the project on time),” the letter said.

In the writ petition filed by ATS in April 2023, the Noida Authority floated a scheme in 2015 to allot a plot for an international cricket stadium and Sports City project in Sector 152. ATS Homes, the lead developer for the project, told the court that the project was planned to be developed on 125 acre of land and it was yet to get possession of around 25 acre.

Following this, the HC asked the authority how it could take action when the developer had not been allotted the entire land required for the project. The next hearing on the case is on May 8, 2023.

ATS approached the HC after the authority, in January 2021, banned the sale of flats and threatened action for not developing the project on time. The authority said that the builder must develop sports facilities before the housing units. However, the builder maintained that they did not have adequate land for the same.