The finance department of Chandigarh Administration notified in November 2018 that it was in the process of acquiring 17.8 acres of land in Dhanas (5.57 acres) and Dadu Majra (12.23 acres) villages. This was to connect Dakshin Marg in Chandigarh to PR-4 road along the Chandigarh-Punjab border. The length of the proposed road is about 1.8 kilometres.
In the notification for the land acquisition, which was issued on June 11, 2018, the government shared that the Social Impact Assessment for the project had already been conducted and accordingly, 110 families had been identified whose agricultural land would be acquired. It stated that no family would be displaced.
Under the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, even if land acquisition does not involve displacement, the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) scheme in a project must mention the impacts, details of consultations conducted and compensation. The R&R scheme for this project mentioned that the land was being acquired for ‘public purpose’ i.e. building a road and not for urbanisation.
The land acquisition was challenged in the Chandigarh high court by those who have lost their lands. The petitioners (Jaspal Singh and Others) have contended that the government is trying to implement an urbanisation project in the garb of land acquisition for public purpose to deny land losers their right to 20 per cent of the developed land in case of urbanisation, as stipulated in Schedule II of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
To support their case, the petitioners challenged the stated purpose of the project by highlighting that an alternate route of Dhanas-Mullanpur-Siswan connecting Punjab to Dakshin Marg in Chandīgarh is only two kilometres away from the proposed land acquisition site, so the objective of the project is urbanisation and not connectivity. A single-judge bench forwarded the petition to the chief justice suggesting that the case be heard as a public interest litigation.
The petitioners also stated that for the first time, the land acquisition was being initiated without updating the revenue record of the land in question. They claimed that the records had not been updated for ‘decades’. Updating of records before any land acquisition is a standard practice of the revenue department to inform the public about the rights of ownership over the land.
As of October 1, 2019, the Chandigarh Administration declared Dhanas and Dadu Majra as ‘Resettlement Areas’ for the R&R scheme. It calculated the compensation amount for the residents of Dhanas at the rate of INR 1.88 crore per acre and INR 1.15 crore per acre for the residents of Dadu Majra. The petitioners suspected that the Chandigarh Administration issued the policy for land acquisition through negotiation just before the acquisition to avoid paying fair compensation to the land owners as prescribed under the Land Acquisition Act. On November 20, 2019, the court issued a notice of motion on the petition.
LCW wrote to the district commissioner to get a response on the petitioners' claims, but no response was received.
In May 2020, the Chandigarh Administration announced a new compensation package of INR 74.67 crore amount under Section 26 of the LARR Act.
Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Demand for more compensation than promised
Complaint against procedural violations
Other Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Region Classification
Rural
Type of Land
Private
What was the action taken by the police?
How many people did the police detain or arrest?
What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?
Did the person face any violence while in police custody?
If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?
If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?
Legislation under which the accused was charged
Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?
In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?
Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?
Details of sources (names of accused, names and numbers of any lawyers, names of any police officers contacted)
Status of Project
Project underway despite protests
Original Project Deadline
Whether the Project has been Delayed
Significance of Land to Land Owners/Users
Agricultural land
Whether the project was stalled due to land conflict
Source/Reference
Total investment involved (in Crores):
₹
Type of investment:
Year of Estimation
Has the Conflict Ended?
No
When did it end?
Why did the conflict end?
Categories of Legislations Involved in the Conflict
Land Acquisition Laws, Central/State Government Policy
Legislations/Policies Involved
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Whether claims/objections were made as per procedure in the relevant statute
What was the claim(s)/objection(s) raised by the community?
What was the Decision of the Concerned Government Department?
Legal Processes and Loopholes Enabling the Conflict:
Controversial land acquisition by the government
Land record discrepancies
Incorrect estimation of compensation
Non-implementation/violation of LARR Act
Legal Status:
In Court
Status of Case In Court
Pending
Whether any adjudicatory body was approached
No
Name of the adjudicatory body
Name(s) of the Court(s)
High Court of Punjab and Haryana
Case Number
C.W.P. No. 25187 of 2019
Main Reasoning/Decision of court
Major Human Rights Violations Related to the Conflict:
Whether criminal law was used against protestors:
No
Reported Details of the Violation:
Date of Violation
Location of Violation
Government Departments Involved in the Conflict:
Chandigarh Administration
PSUs Involved in the Conflict:
Did LCW Approach Government Authorities for Comments?
No
Name, Designation and Comment of the Government Authorities Approached
Corporate Parties Involved in the Conflict:
Did LCW Approach Corporate Parties for Comments?
Communities/Local Organisations in the Conflict:
Jaspal Singh
What was the action taken by the police?
How many people did the police detain or arrest?
What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?
Did the person face any violence while in police custody?
If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?
If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?
Legislation under which the accused was charged
Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?
In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?
Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?
Were there any other notable irregularities that took place, or other significant details?
Meenakshi is an independent researcher currently based in Himachal Pradesh. She has a Master's in Environmental Management from the Forest Research Institute. She has formerly worked with the Centre for Policy Research, Namati and Kalpavriksh on issues of environmental compliance and regulation. Her interest in the politics of regulatory action gave her the opportunity to study institutions such as the Coastal Zone Management Authorities and the ESA Monitoring Committees. She has also researched on natural resource governance and large-scale land-use change in Indonesia and Myanmar and is experienced in extensive research, writing and advocacy on the Coastal Regulation Zone law of India. Besides researching and reporting from the hills, she enjoys farming, cooking her harvest, tending to her plants and pets, reading in the sun and counting the number of hues at sunset.
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