The Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that the Punjab government’s controversial Land Pooling Policy-2025 prima facie appears to have been notified in “haste” and that all concerns — including social and environmental impact assessments, timelines and a grievance redress mechanism — should have been addressed in the policy before its notification.
These observations were made in a detailed order in connection with a writ petition challenging the policy. On August 7, the court granted an interim stay on its implementation and gave the State four weeks to respond to the concerns. The next hearing is scheduled for September 10.
“The State proposes to take over tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in the entire State of Punjab for carrying out its proposed development work, without carrying out any Social Impact Assessment or Environmental Impact Assessment study, although a stand is taken that the assessment would be carried out later when they have definite information about the number of land owners who have opted for the scheme,” the court noted. It added, “It has been held by the Supreme Court in several cases that before permitting urban development, the State ought to carry out an environmental impact assessment.”
