80 villagers were declared a part of the Yamuna Expressway industrial area
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition challenging a notification passed by the Uttar Pradesh government two years ago whereby 80 villages of Gautam Buddh Nagar district had been included in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Area.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice D B Bhosle and Justice M K Gupta yesterday rejected the petition filed by Shri Niwaz Nagar and another resident of Dhanaura village - which was one of the 80 declared as part of the industrial area vide notification dated December 18, 2015.
The petitioners had contended that following inclusion in the industrial area, the village had - as per provisions of the Industrial Area Development Act - ceased to be a Gram Panchayat.
Moreover, the petitioners had alleged that since the municipal authorities were providing no services to these villages, their inclusion in the industrial area by the state government was "arbitrary" and violated Article 243 q of the Constitution.
It was, however, argued by the state government's counsel Ramanand Pandey that the petition happened to be the contention of "only two villagers residing in one of the 80 villages affected by the inclusion".
He also claimed "the affected villagers were mostly happy with the state government's decision" and challenged the petition's maintainability on the ground that the department which had issued the notification had not been made a party.
The court concurred with the submissions made by the state government and dismissed the petition.