Chandigarh, March 21: A significant legal victory for the farming community of Palheri village was recorded on Saturday as the High Court cancelled all operational licenses and sale deeds for the Suntec City township.
The ruling effectively halts a massive real estate venture on Airport Road after it was revealed that the developer had allegedly incorporated private farmland into their project through forgery and administrative manipulation.
During the proceedings, it was affirmed that the developer company had been marketing commercial and residential units on land they did not legally own.
Advocate Charanpal Singh Bagri stated that the company’s license and CLU, originally granted in 2016, were based on fraudulent consent letters. He declared that the High Court’s double bench intervened to cancel the project’s RERA number and seal its financial accounts to protect unsuspecting buyers from falling into a “trap.”
The landowners asserted that while they were busy growing crops, the company was allegedly selling their land for as much as ₹1.5 lakh per square yard. Balwinder Singh, a local farmer, noted that the scale of the fraud is immense, with commercial showrooms on the site valued between eight to nine crore rupees each.
He maintained that the police initially failed to provide assistance for three years, only acting once the High Court demanded accountability from the highest levels of the Punjab Police.
The investigation has raised serious questions about the oversight of PUDA officials who facilitated the project’s approvals.
Bagri affirmed that the High Court has questioned how a township of this scale was passed without verifying the original consent letters, which the police now admit are missing.
He further stated that the developer allegedly attempted to have his professional license cancelled by the Bar Council after he refused an ₹18 crore bribe to drop the case.
The farmers have now called upon the Punjab government to take the strictest possible action against both the company owners and the officials involved.
They asserted that they will not vacate their ancestral land, which they continue to cultivate, and declared that the “illegal money” earned through these sales should be returned to the rightful landowners.
