A day after a two-judge Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the acquisition of a green belt in front of the Ambience Mall here, lawyers and government officials maintained that the decision could be seen as favourable to the widening of the DLF-HUDA sector road.
Disposing a writ petition by Ambience Hotel and Resorts Private Limited challenging the acquisition of 342 acre of land in Nathupur village in 2011 for development of green belt, Justice Ashutosh Mohunta, acting chief justice of the High Court, and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal had said that land acquired “shall be utilised for maintaining green belt as defined in the explanatory note of the Final Development Plan-2031 of Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex”.
Speaking to The Hindu , advocate Pradeep Rapria, who represented intervener Colonel Talwar, said: “The petitioner had no legal claim to the piece of land in question and was using it for its own commercial interest. The petitioner even offered to continue to maintain the land, but the court rightly turned down their plea. The court has in its order said the land in question should be used only for green belt as per the Gurgaon-Manesar Final Development Plan. Since the belt can be used for widening of roads, it could be used for the widening of the DLF-HUDA sector road as well.”
Ambience Mall management and senior HUDA officials refused to comment on the issue. The land is question is the starting point of the under-construction DLF-HUDA road, which covers a distance of 8.3 km on Sector Road and 2.2 km on NH-8. Its construction has been questioned by urban experts and environmentalists.
