CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has put a four-week interim stay on the implementation of the controversial land pooling policy of the Punjab Government. The court made clear its intent to stay the policy after the government refused to withdraw it.
The division bench of Justice Anupinder Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda also gave the state four weeks’ time after hearing detailed arguments for about two hours.
“We will stay the policy and give you time to address the concerns,” the court said.
The state has also been directed to inform the court whether a social impact assessment was carried out before notifying the policy. The court reiterated its concerns regarding the lack of provision for the rehabilitation of landless labourers and others dependent on land for their sustenance. It also questioned the government for not conducting the compulsory social impact assessment before identifying the land to be acquired.
Earlier, the petitioner Gurdeep Singh Gill had contended that the policy was an act of colourable legislation, allegedly framed under a Central law that contained no enabling provision for such a scheme. His counsel Gurjeet Singh Gill, Manan Kheterpal, Manat Kaur, Rahul Jadge, and Rajat Verma also sought directions for quashing the notification and the policy as ultra vires, arbitrary, and violative of Articles 14, 19(1)(g), and 21 read with Article 300-A of the Constitution.
After the hearing, Gurjeet Singh, lawyer of Gill, said that neither a social impact assessment nor any environment-related assessment was carried out under the land pooling policy.
“That no such social impact assessment report was either prepared or published, as per the provisions of law. Moreover, none of the gram panchayats or gram sabhas were approached or consulted by the respondents before bringing the Land Pooling Policy 2025, which is a clear disregard of the provisions mandated under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013,” said the petition.
It further added that since there was no such provision of law under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, to frame the Land Pooling Policy 2025, there lies no mechanism or forum to challenge such a policy and the petitioner is left with no remedy to redress his grievance.
On August 6, the court asked the Punjab government whether there was any provision in the policy for the rehabilitation of landless labourers for their sustenance.
The Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government has been facing flak from opposition parties and various farmer unions, which have termed the policy a “looting” scheme to “rob” the farmers of their fertile land.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced a state-wide yatra titled “Save Land, Save Farmers,” from August 17 to September 5. BJP’s state Vice President Kewal Singh Dhillon said that during this yatra, BJP Punjab will go village-to-village creating awareness among farmers against this scheme and mobilising them.
“It will meet the farmers who are already aware and struggling, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder, will support them,” he said.
The yatra will kick off on August 17 from Patiala and pass through villages in the Malwa, Majha, and Doaba regions affected by the land pooling plan, culminating in Pathankot on September 5.
Also, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has announced the launch of an indefinite ‘Morcha’ from September 1. Party President Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the Morcha is dedicated to safeguarding Punjab’s farmers, khet mazdoor, traders, and other sections of Punjabi society. He also announced that the party was unanimous in its decision to revoke the land pooling scheme after taking over the reins of the state in 2027, in case the AAP government persisted with its nefarious designs.
“We will hand over the entire acquired land back to the farmers after forming a special law for the purpose, in the same manner in which the land on which the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal was handed back to the original owners by Parkash Singh Badal in 2016,” he said.
Badal will lead the first ‘Jatha’ on September 1 from Amb Sahib Gurudwara in Mohali and march to the new ‘Sheesh Mahal’ at the nearby Panchayat Bhawan. Party workers from each constituency in Punjab will subsequently participate in a continuous dharna and march from the same site in ‘Jathas’ of 500 persons each, indefinitely, till the AAP government revokes the land pooling scheme. A three-member coordinating committee comprising Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema, N. K. Sharma, and Mohali district president Parminder Singh Sohana has also been formed for this purpose.
