Noida | Special Correspondent: Arun Sharma

The Allahabad High Court has once again refused to reopen land acquisition cases linked to the Yamuna Expressway project, delivering a significant setback to farmers who had challenged the acquisition process. The court dismissed a fresh batch of petitions, holding that the core legal issues involved have already been conclusively settled, including by the Supreme Court.


In an order passed on January 6, a division bench comprising Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Kunal Ravi Singh rejected 14 writ petitions challenging land acquisitions carried out between 2009 and 2011 in villages such as Parsol, Niloni Shahpur, Rabupura, Chandpur and Acheyapur in Dankaur tehsil.


The petitioners claimed they were bhumidars with transferable rights and questioned the acquisition notifications issued under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, read with Sections 17(1) and 17(4). They argued that the invocation of urgency provisions unlawfully deprived them of the statutory right to object under Section 5-A.


Opposing the plea, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) submitted that the acquisition formed part of a large, integrated and time-bound development plan linked to the Yamuna Expressway corridor. The authority maintained that the urgency provisions were essential to ensure timely execution of the project.


Accepting YEIDA’s submissions, the High Court ruled that there was no merit in reopening the matter, reiterating that the legality of the acquisition had already been upheld by judicial scrutiny at the highest level.


The verdict is seen as a major legal endorsement of the Yamuna Expressway development framework, while marking another unsuccessful attempt by farmers to seek judicial relief against the land acquisition process.