NOIDA: The Allahabad high court’s Lucknow bench has quashed orders by Noida Authority and UP govt that rejected a building map application filed by two landowners.
Kapil Misra and another villager — the petitioners — sought the Authority’s permission to construct residential buildings on a Sector 45 plot that they received through an exchange agreement over a decade ago.
The case dates back to 2011, when the two petitioners received land from the govt. They initially owned a 10,870sqm plot in Rohillapur village of Sector 132, which the state govt acquired from them in 2006 for development. But the high court quashed this acquisition in 2009.
The Authority then compensated the villagers by transferring land of equivalent size in Sadarpur of Sector 45 through an exchange deed in 2011.
In 2021, the petitioners sought the Authority’s permission to develop group housing on the Sector 45 land. The Authority, however, rejected the application in Sept 2023, citing non-compliance with its 2010 Building Regulations — which require a lease deed to be signed for such applications. A revision petition filed with the state govt was dismissed as well in April 2024.
The petitioners argued that the deed of exchange qualified as a valid transfer document, granting them full rights over the land that was handed to them. They contended that the Authority’s rejection violated their constitutional rights to property under Article 300A, which includes construction rights. They also maintained that the Authority’s interpretation of the building regulations was “overly restrictive and contrary to legal principles protecting property rights”.
The Authority argued that its rejection was based on three arguments — the mandatory requirement of a lease deed under building regulations, the undeveloped status of the Sector 45 plot with no designated land use, and a potential impact on its lease-based revenue model.
The court, however, found these arguments insufficient. On Nov 22, the court of Justice Alok Mathur deemed the Authority’s rejection “illegal” and asked it to conduct a fresh hearing on the petitioners’ application, emphasising their constitutional rights as property owners.
The court ruled that the deed of exchange between the petitioners and the Authority constituted a valid transfer deed under the Transfer of Property Act and UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976.
“We find no reason for the Authority not to consider the petitioners’ application for building plan sanction, and the reasons for rejection are clearly illegal and arbitrary,” the court observed. The Authority was told to pass a fresh order within four weeks of receiving a certified copy of the judgment.
This ruling sets a significant precedent for similar cases and emphasises the need for administrative bodies to consider property rights while interpreting regulations.
Source Homevior.in
