NOIDA: In a recent legal development, the Allahabad High Court has annulled two cancellation orders from the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), emphasizing that the Authority “failed to meet deadlines and adhered to faulty procedures.” One order pertained to a significant IT/ITES project in Tech Zone II, and the other addressed a group housing project in Sector 10.
The rulings, issued by Justice Prakash Padia earlier this month, reinstated allotments and provided relief to developers Elevator Properties and Kinetic Buildtech.
These developers challenged GNIDA’s decisions in court, claiming the Authority’s own shortcomings hindered their projects. In the first instance, GNIDA canceled the allotment on June 16, 2023, citing reasons such as the non-utilization of land, the absence of a completion certificate, and overdue payments. The 25-acre IT/ITES plot was originally assigned in October 2007 to a consortium led by Anant Raj Industries Ltd.
In August 2010, it was transferred to Elevator Properties through a lease deed. Despite more than a decade passing, no construction occurred.
In response to the cancellation, Elevator Properties submitted a petition to the High Court in 2024, arguing that GNIDA failed to carry out necessary external development works (roads, drainage, services), rendering the land commercially unviable, even after the developer paid the full premium at lease execution.
A crucial legal point revolved around an amendment to Section 7 of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act in 2022. This amendment permitted the Authority to cancel non-utilized plots only if it issued a notice at least three months before December 31, 2022, instructing the allottee to complete construction by that date. If the plot remained unused, it would automatically cancel on December 31, 2022. However, GNIDA issued its notice on January 3, 2023, after the September 30, 2022 deadline for issuing such notices. Justice Prakash Padia determined that GNIDA lost its legal authority to cancel under the amended provision due to missing the deadline. The court labeled the cancellation as “wholly without jurisdiction” and “perverse,” reinstating the allotment and entitling Elevator Properties to consequential benefits.
The court also pointed out that GNIDA’s cancellation had previously been supported by a November 23, 2023 order from the principal secretary of the industrial development department, which the court has now overridden.
In the second case, the court invalidated GNIDA’s 2017 cancellation of a five-acre plot assigned to Kinetic Buildtech in May 2014 under a group housing scheme.
This plot was allotted in 2014, and Kinetic Buildtech filed its petition against the cancellation in May 2023.
