Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench has set aside an order that had stalled a proposed hotel project in Ayodhya on the grounds of land acquisition, observing that govt departments must honour commitments made under the state’s investment and tourism policies.A bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai, in its order dated Aug 13, quashed the order passed by the housing commissioner on May 29, 2024, holding it to be illegal.The bench directed state govt to take a decision within six weeks on whether the land could be exempted from acquisition in accordance with law.The case concerns 2,530sqm of land in Kudakeshavpur Uparhar village in Ayodhya, where petitioner Kalpana Nigam proposed a hotel project. The Ayodhya Development Authority had approved the map on July 17, 2023, while the Housing Development Council published the land acquisition notification on Aug 19, 2023.The court noted that the hotel plan had been approved before the acquisition notification was issued and that the construction process had also commenced.It noted that meetings of Invest UP had already considered the issue and decided that hotel projects whose maps had been approved before issuance of acquisition notifications should be kept outside the acquisition process.The court said state investment policies create a legitimate expectation among investors and govt authorities cannot arbitrarily depart from commitments.The bench also took note of the petitioner’s contention that the project was being developed under the state’s investment and tourism promotion framework and that the authorities had initially recognised the project as eligible for exemption from acquisition.The court accordingly quashed the housing commissioner’s order and directed govt to reconsider the matter under Section 49 of the Uttar Pradesh Awas Evam Vikas Parishad Adhiniyam.
