Sunil Jha

The Allahabad High Court verdict has put the builders lobby in a fix. With the High Court ruling in favour of farmers, builders have now just one stop left – Supreme Court. If they fail to convince even the Apex court, it would mean a dead end to their hopes of developing residential properties on agricultural land for commercial profits not just in Noida Extension but elsewhere as well. In fact, this one step would open the doors for many to go ahead and protest or object the acquisition of their fertile land for commercial benefit. So in coming days expect courts to be flooded with PILs or petitions from farmers across the country against such acquisitions and development of commercial residential properties.

Farmers are justified and builders have their grievances. They are fighting their battle in the courts, but the worst affected are the hapless common middle class families who had booked their flat after calculating their monthly budget. It maybe a setback to builders (who we all know pulled all strings to get such prime land at throwaway prices) but it is a bigger setback for thousands of families who had their dreams set on owning a house. With builders lobby not too sensitive to the customers’ concerns, one can’t actually promise that things would be fair to these families. What will happen to the money that these hapless families have invested in these properties? Will they get the refund with the 18% interest that builders themselves charge for any default by a customer? This time builders have defaulted for whatever reasons – so will they pay the penalty to these families as well? Farmers have their grievances and so have these families.

But the larger issue still remains about the future of housing sector in the country. Will the sector boom, or will it go through a major slowdown? There is a phrase that I was told in school — excess of everything is bad. I am reminded of this because that’s exactly what’s happening today. In their lust for profit, these builders have been twisting rules through their powerful contacts. They have been acquiring land — mostly very fertile agricultural land around cities through all sorts of means to fulfil their lust. The problem really gets compounded by the absence of a proper and defined guidelines on the criteria of acquisition of land. Which land should be open for acquisition and where? This is a question which no government is willing to answer.

If no check is imposed, it would be a double whammy for those who want to own a house. First they would invest in a flat and then not get it. For farmers, the problem would be no less. They would lose their land and even when they get it back their fertile land would have become unfit for agriculture, due to the construction activities.

The question is key to our country’s future as well. Like the Western world, the problem of food security also stares at us, if proper corrective measures are not taken in time and if fertile, multi-crop land is ripped apart for acquisition like the way it has been happening, then there’s always going to be a problem in the future. Regulations should be in place to ensure that only non-productive and infertile land is open for acquisition. This would not just solve the problem of having new residential properties, but would also not displace farmers from the land which is their mode of their survival. A country like India which still is predominantly an agriculture-based economy would massively suffer if the percentage of fertile land is reduced. And this has to be consciously understood by all — state governments, centre and the builder community. I say the builder community also because the country comes first. After all, every citizen in this country deserves to own a house but it should not be at the cost of hurting somebody, the builders have a duty to fulfil!

I feel that while ruling on the validity of acquisition, courts should also consider directing the governments to consider framing proper land acquisition guidelines ASAP. Or else, disputes like these will keep cropping up and country’s food security concerns will never be addressed.

But will the political leadership in states or at the centre take the initiative? Maybe not as most of the builders are linked to some leader or a powerful lobby. Also, a large chunk of the profit that builders make from the projects unfortunately still goes into the hands of these lobbies, in all the wrong ways.