The Supreme Court is not happy with a government panel that was looking into claims of illegal payments made to landowners by NOIDA officials. So, they have created a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the issue further.
A group of judges discussed this while considering requests from NOIDA’s legal advisor and a law officer who were accused of corruption. They are concerned that some landowners received large amounts of money that they shouldn’t have, for their acquired land.
The SIT will include important police officers and will check four main things:
1. Did the landowners get more money than the law allows?
2. If yes, who is responsible for these large payments?
3. Was there any illegal agreement between the landowners and NOIDA officials?
4. Does NOIDA act in a fair and open way that serves the public?
The court has asked the SIT to finish their investigation within two months and keep their findings private until then. They also said that landowners who received extra money would not face any harsh actions without the court’s approval.
Previously, there had been many cases of too much money being paid to landowners, which raised suspicions of wrongdoing. The judges believed an independent agency needed to take a closer look at NOIDA’s operations.
On October 5, 2023, the state government told the court that it had set up a new committee to investigate NOIDA’s payouts. However, the Supreme Court wasn’t satisfied with the committee’s work, as they only focused on one specific case instead of looking at the bigger picture.
The court emphasized that the committee must respect prior court orders and cannot ignore them. They also noted that the farmers who received higher compensation are facing problems from the officials who want to intimidate them. The court reminded NOIDA that they cannot mistreat landowners just because they received higher compensation, as it violates the court’s decisions.
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