HC order on house holding up Delhi-Dehradun expressway likely on April 29

Time of India

21-04-2025

Ghaziabad: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court may deliver its verdict next week in a compensation dispute involving a two-storied house in Mandola that has held up completion of the
Delhi-Dehradun Expressway
.
A two-judge bench of justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla, hearing the case on April 16, had given the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and UP Housing Board three days to file their counter affidavits.
A person closely associated with the case told TOI he expects the HC bench to deliver the verdict at the next hearing on April 29, paving the way for opening of the two stretches of the expressway – a 14.7km section from Delhi's Akshardham to UP Border (Ghaziabad) and a 16km section from UP Gate in Loni (Ghaziabad) to Khekra (Baghpat) on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE).
"The project is being monitored at the PMO and (Union) ministry level, and an early outcome of the order is pivotal in the larger interest of the people. We hope that the HC will deliver a final verdict in the case, paving the way for the opening of two stretches of the corridor, where we are told 98% of the work is complete," he said on Monday.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around
Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List
Undo
The dispute dates to 1998, when UP Housing Board started acquiring farmlands in Mandola for a housing scheme. While many farmers gave up their land along the Delhi-Ghaziabad border over the years, Veersen Saroha refused compensation and held on to his 1,600sqm house there.
He moved the Allahabad high court, which stayed acquisition of his land. Veersen died before the case reached a resolution, though the
Mandola Housing Scheme
never materialised over protests and demands of higher compensation by other landowners too.
Meanwhile, NHAI finalised its plans for the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Economic Corridor, which involves construction of the expressway, between 2017 and 2020.
The highways authority, which needed Veersen's land to build a ramp to the expressway, approached UP Housing Board, which obliged and gave away the parcel to NHAI.
Veersen's grandson Lakshyaveer moved Supreme Court last year, alleging the land was not the Housing Board's to give away. The top court redirected the dispute to the Lucknow bench of the HC and asked it to expedite the case.
Farmers block board's office
On Monday, dozens of farmers who have been demanding higher compensation for land they parted with in 1998 for the Mandola Vihar Housing Scheme locked the gates of UP Housing Board's office in the city to protest.
Neeraj Tyagi, who has been spearheading the farmers' agitation in Mandola, said the authorities have not shown any urgency to resolve the issues of other landowners affected by acquisition. "We raised the issue a number of times in the past, and the board assured a way out. Despite so many years, we got no assurance from the board, so we locked up the UP Housing Board's office on Monday and organised a sit-in protest," he said.
Asked about the protest, a Housing Board official said land was acquired with due process at the time. "The board started the physical work in 2007, and the project was slated to be completed in 15 years, but the farmers' agitation held it up. Their demand is unjustified," the official said.