HC shoots down Manesar businessmen plea

GURGAON: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday ordered that the extra money demanded by the state government's industrial development corporation from the industrialists of Manesar was fair and it should be paid as per the Supreme Court's orders issued on August 17, 2010.
The case was filed following a dispute between HSIIDC and industrialists wherein the former had asked the latter to pay the enhanced amount, as ordered by the court, to the farmers whose plots were acquired to develop the Industrial Model Township in Manesar in the late 1990s.The farmers' land was bought by the state government in 1994 at the rate of Rs 4.13 lakh per acre. The Supreme Court, however, ordered in August 2010 that the farmers should have been paid at the rate of Rs 20 lakh per acre. The plot buyers were ordered to pay the balance of Rs 15.87 lakh to the state government (HSIIDC), which in turn will pay it to the farmers.
Initially, the plots were allotted by the HSIIDC at the rate of Rs 1,500 per square metre in 1999-2000. After the court verdict, the HSIIDC demanded an extra Rs 3,552 per square metre (at the rate of Rs 15.87 lakh per acre). The HSIIDC asked the plot owners to bear the extra cost as a clause in the allotment letters mentions that any enhanced amount, announced by the court, will be borne by the plot allottees.
The industrialists, however, moved the court stating that HSIIDC made huge profits at the time when the plots were allotted. But their petition was rejected.
Following this, the HSIIDC issued notices to the plot allottees asking them to pay the enhanced amount at the rate of Rs 3,552 per square metre.
The industrialists again moved court challenging the HSIIDC's calculation. The high court maintained that the enhanced amount has to be paid at the rate of Rs 20 lakh per acre but some interests charged were unfair.
According to the order, the industrialists are supposed to make payment at the rate of Rs 3,313 instead of Rs 3,552 per square metre and the balance of Rs 239 per square metre is to be adjusted.As the total allotted area is spread in 978.50 acre, the adjustment would amount to around Rs 94 crore.