Nagpur Metro
Nagpur/New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court verdict which had directed the Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to hand over the possession of a plot of land to a private firm, media reports said.
A bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice M M Sundresh noted that the High Court ought not to have entertained the petition filed by the firm considering the fact that there was a “cloud over” its title over the land. The company had challenged in the High Court the Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd taking possession of the land following an allotment order dated August 25, 2015 issued by the Collector.
The court said that unless and until the rights over the land in question are crystallised in a pending lawsuit, a public project cannot be stalled in such a manner. The top court observed that the Collector had in August 2015 allotted the land measuring 9,343 square metres in district Nagpur to the Metro Corporation.
The Top Court It noted that initially, the land was sub-leased by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Ltd to the firm in July 1995 for 30 years and it was subject to the right of requisition and consequent termination of the lease by the state in case the land was required for public purpose. The bench said in 2002, the tourism corporation terminated the lease of July 1995 after which the firm filed a suit against the corporation for declaration and permanent injunction.
