Bombay HC seeks government’s reply on farmer plea

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has issued a notice to the Union and state government seeking a reply to the petition filed by a farmer from Solapur seeking the appointment of more ‘Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authorities’ (LARRA) across the state.

The government is acquiring land of the petitioner, Deepak More, for the construction of a road and he has challenged the collector's order, as he is not satisfied with the amount fixed for the acquisition.

According to the petition, currently, there is only one authority in Nagpur and he has to bear the heavy burden of travelling to Nagpur from Solapur to attend each hearing since 2018.

According to him, LARRA provides for more than one authority for the speedy disposal of such litigations and hence he is seeking the appointment of more such authorities.

Mr More's counsel Vaibhav Ugle contended before the division bench of Justice R.M. Borde and Justice N.M. Jamdar that a revision application has been filed before the LARRA challenging the February 2016 order of deputy collector, Solapur, about the land acquisition of petitioner's land.

As per the 'Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, in order to provide the speedy disposal of disputes relating to the land acquisition and compensation, the government is supposed to establish one or more authorities.

However, despite this, there is only one such authority and the petitioner has to travel all the way to Nagpur from Solapur to attend proceedings before LARRA.

According to the petition, being a farmer and illiterate, the petitioner does not have a sufficient source of income for travel from Solapur to Nagpur and it is very difficult for him to bear the heavy cost of the travelling charges on each hearing.

Mr Ugle said that Mr More is one of the many litigants whose proceedings are pending before the Authority.

He has requested that to avoid the cost of litigations and expenses the court should establish more authorities across Maharashtra.