A Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur – which had on September 11 ordered the state government to demolish illegal construction that came up in Kant Enclave after August 18, 1992 and ordered compensation for adversely affected persons – said the amount should be disbursed by December 10.
Haryana Additional Advocate General Anil Grover pointed out that the court had originally ordered that the burden of Rs 50 lakh compensation amount had to be equally shared by the state government and the builder and that the state can’t be asked to pay the entire amount.Haryana Chief Secretary DS Dhesi – who was summoned by the court-appeared before the Bench. According to Haryana government, there were 1,617 plots in Kant Enclave and constructions were there only on 33 plots.
Directing the state government to disburse the amount by December 10, the Bench said it would determine the amount to be paid by the builder on December 11, the next date of hearing.
In its September 11 order, the top court had directed Haryana Chief Secretary to ensure compliance of its orders “in letter and spirit” by December 31, 2018.
On Wednesday, those adversely affected by the demolition order sought time till April 2019 to vacate the land.
Their counsel told the Bench that Rs 50 lakh was insufficient as they couldn’t even buy two bedroom flats with Rs 50 lakh. They said they were all retired people who didn’t have money to pay even rent.
In its original order, the top court had directed the builder – R Kant & Co – to give full refund along with 18% annual interest to hundreds of persons who invested in land from date of investment.
Applying “the polluter pays principle”, it had ordered the builder to deposit Rs 5 crore in the Aravali Rehabilitation Fund within a month.
“The rule of law seems to have broken down in Haryana,” it had said terming the violations as “quite frightening”.
The Bench had given liberty to those not satisfied with compensation amount to claim damages from R Kant & Co and Haryana Town & Country Planning Department by filing civil suits.
Out of 1,617 plots carved out by R. Kant & Co in Kant Enclave, conveyance deeds had been executed only in respect of 284 residential plots and three commercial plots. On the residential plots, only 33 houses had been constructed and it appeared that not one of them was a single-storey hutment.
