Six years ago, over 1,000 farmers from Gujarat moved the High Court opposing the acquisition of their land for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
They received more-than-adequate compensation payouts for their land.
Circa 2024, farmers’ attitudes have changed. According to a report, five farmers from Surat district approached the HC doors asking why the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) shouldn’t acquire their lands.
Seeking HC intervention, these landowners from Antroli village have desired that NHSRCL acquire their agricultural land since the authority needed more empty spaces to restore pasture land (gauchar) of the village. The rail project caused the depletion of pasture land. To address the issue NHSRCL purchased some plots with non-agriculture (NA) status.
Dinesh Lukhi, Nilesh Lukhi, Keshav Goti, Jayesh Patel, and Piyush Kheni, the five farmland owners, petitioned the High Court to overturn NHSRCL’s decision to buy NA land. They contended that NHSRCL should not have chosen to purchase NA land, for which it would have had to pay 1.5 times more than for the agricultural property, given their agricultural land next to the gauchar was easily accessible for acquisition.
However, the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee turned down the petition, calling it “wholly misconceived”. The judges said that the farmers’ interests would not be prejudiced if NHSRCL didn’t acquire their land.
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