Filmmaker Subhash Ghai has got a breather in the Haryana land case after a court dismissed a public suit filed by people of Badhsa village against his acquiring 20 acres of land for setting up a film institute.
Dismissing the plea, the court vacated the stay on the land purchased from the panchayat in Badhsa village in Jhajjar district, the filmmaker`s laywer Sanjay Sharma said Friday.
“The filmmaker had purchased 20 acres land from the gram panchayat for the construction of his institute with the permission of financial commissioner of Haryana, however, the villagers filed a PIL claiming that they are the proprietors of the land, which was not actually true,” Sharma told.
“However, now the Bahadurgarh court has dismissed the plea and we can begin the construction of our institute now,” he added.
On March 1, after hearing the arguments of both sides, the court had reserved the order and was to be pronounce the verdict March 5, but later the date was fixed for March 16.
Ex-sarpanch of Badhsa Balbir Singh and former member of panchayat Rambir Singh filed the petition claiming that the land belonged to village communities and the gram panchayat and the government had no right to sell it to a private firm.
Ghai is equally delighted with the court`s decision.
“I am glad that judiciary has given us justice and acknowledged the national importance for developing the skill based talent and technicians and media professionals nationwide,” Ghai said in a statement.
The Badhsa Gram Panchayat had sent a resolution to the Haryana government Jan 6, 2010, to permit them to sell land to Subhash Ghai`s Mukta Arts. On Sep 22, 2010, the government allowed the panchayat to sell 20 acres of land at the rate of Rs.2,409,000 per acre. The deal was sealed Oct 11, 2010.
Earlier, Additional Civil Judge (Senior) Rajesh Sharma had issued notice to the Haryana government and Mukta Arts chairman Subhash Ghai and had stayed Mukta Arts from performing any type of activity on the 20 acres of land it purchased from the Gram Panchayat of Badhsa.
