Builders on Friday blamed the Noida and Greater Noida development authorities for the current crisis and warned of similar problems in future due to their faulty land acquisition process. The realtor's apex body, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), said that the problems were mainly happening due to the use of an 'emergency clause', which allows the authorities to forcibly acquire the land for "national interest".
Besides, the development authorities in the two regions were also changing the usage title of the acquired land from industrial to housing and vice-versa, CREDAI said and warned that these issues could snowball into a bigger problem in the coming days.
"There have been changes in master plan by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities. Many land areas have been changed to residential from industrial and similarly it happened in the reverse way also.
"Due to such changes, many farmers in other areas are going to the court, which has created nervousness among buyers and they are worried about the fate of their properties," CREDAI President (NCR) Pankaj Bajaj told PTI.
After the Allahabad High Court judgement, the farmers in other villages of the region have approached the court seeking higher compensation, he said.
Bajaj, however, said the overall distribution of industrial and residential land in the area might not have changed because of alteration in land usage from what was originally proposed while acquiring lands from farmers.
Questioning the land acquisition process adopted by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, he said: "The entire problem happened because GNIDA acquired the land imposing emergency clause. There was no need to acquire land in such a manner as there was no hurry... It was unwanted."
Under the emergency clause of the Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, the government can take away land forcibly from owners for purpose of "national interests", he added.
Bajaj, however, said there was "no scam" involved in the acquisition of these land or changing of the land usage.
"Due to this entire mess, developers are going to suffer only... They will lose money, spent mainly in advertising and brokerage," Bajaj said.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had upheld a verdict of the Allahabad High Court that quashed acquisition of 176 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida.
Meanwhile, realty firm Paras Buildtech Chief Marketing Officer Bharat Dhuppar said the Supreme Court's decision on denotifying the land is likely to increase the housing demand in Ghaziabad and Noida markets, but prices are expected to remain stable.
