Court asks govt to hand over NH 28 land to NHAI

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the high court has directed the state government to hand over possession of the acquired pieces of land to the National Highway Authority of India within two months after removing all administrative and legal hurdles in order to facilitate completion of Faizabad Road-NH 28. It directed the principal secretary of revenue department to file compliance report on affidavit on May 26.
A division bench on Monday pulled up revenue department's special secretary DK Singh for delaying transfer of possession on the false pretext of administrative and legal difficulties for the last ten years.
The HC said, "The difficulty posed by the state government does not exist in legal parlance as such there is no reason in not delivering possession of the lands to the NHAI even after ten years since acquisition."
The order came on a PIL moved a year ago, seeking direction to the NHAI to complete the construction of NH 28 .The petition has raised the problems of common people who have to face traffic jam every time on NH 28 due to non-completion of service lanes, elevated roads, overbridges, flyovers and drainage etc.
The NHAI had expressed its helplessness in completing the highway, stating that it had given entire compensation amount to state government much earlier but the state authorities were not delivering it possession of land at as many as 57 places.
The state authorities claimed the government still has to pay compensation amount to about 104 persons, including 25 persons of Kanchanpur Matiari, 17 of Ganeshpur - Rehmanpur, 11 of Maholi Kamlapur, 24 of Ataria and 31 of Sidhauli villages.
The petitioner's lawyer BK Singh argued that under NHAI Act, possession of the lands would automatically vest in the NHAI after a week from proceedings of acquisition. Hence, the NHAI itself is empowered to take possession of the lands with the help of police and administration, added the counsel.
The counsel specifically raised the issue of incomplete construction of flyover at Matiari crossing. The side walls had been made years ago but the flyover is still incomplete. Due to this, the traffic coming from Deva road side frequently causes traffic jam, said the counsel.
The counsel also charged the NHAI of realising toll tax without providing uninterrupted flow of traffic.