The Supreme Court of India has ruled that states cannot acquire all private property under Article 39(b) of the Constitution. While acknowledging the importance of equitable resource distribution, the court clarified that only certain private resources, based on their ‘material’ nature and impact on the community, fall under the purview of this article. This landmark judgment ends a decades-long legal debate surrounding the scope of state power in acquiring private property.
The Tamil Nadu government has issued a land acquisition notice for 152.95 acres in Eganapuram village, sparking protests from residents who claim they were not consulted. This is part of a larger land acquisition plan for the proposed Parandur greenfield airport, which has faced strong opposition from local communities concerned about the impact on their livelihoods. Villagers in Eganapuram have been protesting for 764 consecutive days, vowing to seek asylum in Andhra Pradesh if their concerns are ignored.
The Supreme Court criticized the Maharashtra government for its failure to pay compensation to a private party for acquired property. The court highlighted the government’s prioritization of freebie schemes over compensating for land loss and warned of consequences if the order isn’t followed.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth ₹300.11 crore belonging to M3M India Infrastructures Private Ltd in connection with a money laundering case. The case involves alleged land acquisition fraud in Haryana, where M3M Group is accused of colluding with officials to obtain licenses and later selling the land for profit. The ED investigation revealed that M3M Group acquired the land at a lower price than market value and later sold it for a much higher amount, generating proceeds of crime.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister, Mykola Solsky, has been accused of involvement in a scheme to illegally acquire state-owned land worth millions of dollars. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) alleges that Solsky, a former chairman of the parliamentary agrarian committee, led a group that expropriated farmland in the northeastern Sumy region between 2017 and 2021. NABU claims the group destroyed documents showing that two state-owned companies had rights to use the land and then used a government scheme to transfer the rights to individuals connected to them. Solsky, who owns several farming businesses, became agriculture minister in March 2022. He has denied the allegations, saying they pertain to a period when he worked as a lawyer. The case is the first against a minister under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and comes amid speculation about an impending government reshuffle.
Activists of BKU Ekta Ugrahan have threatened to launch protests against AAP’s Lok Sabha election candidates if compensation for damage to crops due to rainfall and fair compensation for land acquisition for laying a gas pipeline are not released within a week. The farmer organization set the deadline after meeting agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Monday. The farmers have been protesting outside the Bathinda district administrative complex for the last 18 days.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday criticized the BJP government for acquiring land from farmers in Gautam Budh Nagar and Bulandshahr at low prices. She addressed a rally in Sikandrabad, where she campaigned for party candidate Rajendra Singh Solanki. Mayawati highlighted the farmers’ protests in GB Nagar against inadequate compensation and small abadi plots. She claimed that the development of Noida and the upcoming Noida International Airport were initiated during her tenure as Chief Minister.
