At mahapanchayat, 31 villages decide to appeal in court on Thursday Villagers of area surrounding the Yamuna Expressway held a mahapanchayat on Sunday to discuss the issue of compensation. The villagers have been paid Rs 800/sqm for the land acquired in 2008 by Yamuna Expressway Authority. They claim the money paid is Rs 50/sqm less than the approved circle rates of the time. The villagers who feel “cheated” and 31 villages, of...

-PTI   Against the backdrop of the Noida land controversy, Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia on Sunday described as the “biggest problem” the situation in which the Supreme Court is called upon to give ex post facto approval to projects after crores were invested. Speaking at an international seminar here, he said: “The most acute problem over the years the Supreme Court has faced is that the plans, the buildings, the...

Allahabad : The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday set aside yet another land acquisition by the Greater Noida Industrial Authority. Using the urgency clause, the Authority had acquired 589 hectares of land in Patwari village, in Noida Extension, in the name of industrial development but had given it away to private Builders for residential and commercial projects. The decision comes barely a fortnight after the Supreme Court upheld the high court’s...

At the collapse site in Shalimar Garden area, thousands of onlookers gathered to have a glimpse of what some of them had already expected. Several nearby residents told mediapersons that an RTI activist was put behind bars when he tried to file RTIs to find out the truth — the manner in which construction was allowed at the building that collapsed. On Saturday evening, residents confronted officials of Ghaziabad administration and...

-The Hindustan Times   Most of the applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act at various government departments bring disappointment instead of the desired information even though the authorities are slapped fines for violation of rules. Raman Sharma, who has filed 274 RTI queries before the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), pollution control board and other government agencies, said most of the time he has been discouraged by officials concerned. “They...