NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by it to probe higher payment of compensation to farmers for their land allegedly in connivance and collusion of officials from NOIDA must also investigate the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and others for the past 10-15 years.
A bench of the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N. Kotiswar Singh granted the SIT two more months to complete the investigation. The apex court said that farmers who have been given higher payments will not be penalized, and no coercive action will be taken against them.
The bench said it had already clarified in its earlier orders that the probe is not to harass farmers but to investigate officials’ connivance and collusion in making higher payments.
The top court also took on record the SIT’s status report, in which three months have been sought to complete the investigation. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NOIDA, said he intended to file an affidavit to present the authority’s view on the matter.
The top court had, on August 13, constituted an SIT of the Uttar Pradesh Police to conduct a preliminary enquiry into alleged collusion between NOIDA officials and builders over inflated land acquisition compensation for farmers. The apex court had also ordered a stay on project development in NOIDA until a prior Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the court’s green bench approved the report.
It had directed that the DGP of Uttar Pradesh shall constitute an SIT comprising three IPS officers to investigate the issues identified by the previous SIT.
The new SIT shall immediately register preliminary enquiries and proceed to inquire into the points highlighted by the previous SIT, forensic experts, and the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the state police, the bench had ordered. (ANI)
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