Govt land worth Rs 20,000 cr in litigation in UP,

Lucknow, Jun 11 (UNI) In order to get its surplus land worth Rs 20,000 crore freed from illegal encroachers, the Uttar Pradesh government has asked the Allahabad High Court to set up special courts to decide land celing cases on a priorty basis.

The proposal was sent recently with an aim to dispose of land ceiling cases which involves over 38,000 acre state government land in different parts of the state which includes some in the Ambedkar villages as well where the free land has to be distributed among the landless dalits and backwards as part of the welfare schemes.

A total of 1909 land ceiling cases were pending, out of which the top ten cases alone have involve land worth of Rs 10,000 crore. The top hundred land ceiling cases pertain to about 36,000 acres of land.

The land ceiling cases are under dispute since the land was declared surplus as per 1973 act.

UP Principal Secretary of Revenue department Balvinder Kumar told UNI that the sooner the cases were decided, the government exchequer would be richer and the land thus made available would be distributed among the poors and landless.

The top two cases involved more than 5000 acre of government land in Bijnore district, he informed.

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