Uttar Pradesh has staked claim to over 285 acres of land virtually in the heart of the national capital in lieu of 21 acres of its land that the Delhi government acquired to widen the Uttar Pradesh link road connecting the Commonwealth Games Village to the satellite town of Noida.
The Uttar Pradesh government made the claim over two pieces of land located in Aali and Okhla villages on Mathura Road and sought the central government’s permission to develop it for residential and commercial purposes.
Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government before a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi said: ‘Uttar Pradesh has two pieces of land in Delhi and the state has requested for change of land use of both tracts to residential for the purpose of accommodation of officers and offices of the state government and related uses.’
Rohatgi told the bench, which also included Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice B.S. Chauhan, that Attorney General of India Goolam E. Vahanvati has convened a meeting of officials of the union and the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments to discuss the issue of change of land use.
Maintaining that the meeting is slated for April 30, Rohatgi requested the court to await the outcome of the meeting and sought adjournment of the hearing.
The bench acceded to the request.
Rohatgi also told the court that in a meeting on April 20, the Delhi government promised that in lieu of the 21 acres it acquired in Uttar Pradesh to widen the link road, it will not release its untreated sewage into Shahdara drain, which enters Uttar Pradesh through Noida before emptying into the Yamuna river.
The senior counsel told the court that Delhi has promised that it will install a sewage treatment plant at its own cost to ensure that only treated sewage is released into the Shahdara drain.
