The Supreme Court has cleared the decks for completion of a Commonwealth Games project by upholding the acquisition of land by the Delhi government in Mehrauli area of South Delhi.

Commonwealth Games are scheduled from October 3-14 this year. A bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan while upholding the order of the Delhi High Court noted,' we are satisfied with the existence of public purpose and urgency in executing the project before the Commonwealth Games, the adjoining land belonging to DDA being forest land as per the notification and also of the fact that the respondents namely the Centre, DDA and others, have fully complied with the mandatory requirements, including the deposit of 80 per cent of the compensation amount.

We are in entire agreement with the stand taken by the respondents and also the conclusions of the High Court.' The Delhi government on June 6, 2009 had published a notification under section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, withdrawing its earlier notification for acquisition of land in Mehrauli area of South Delhi.

Earlier, notification under section 4 (1) of the Act to acquire a vast chunk of agricultural land for the planned development of Delhi was issued about a half a century ago on October 24, 1961. Declaration under section 6 of the Act was issued on January 4, 1969 and finally notices were issued under section 9 of the Act almost after 22 years on April 26, 1983.

Some of the land owners challenged the acquisition of land in the High Court. The High Court, however, dismissed the writ petition filed by Rajendra Kishen Gupta and others vide order dated April 15, 2004.

The land owners approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order and the apex court passed a status quo order in respect of possession of the land. The apex court, however, modified its order on application filed by DMRC saying that 26,187 square metre lands were urgently required for construction of Chhattarpur metro station on Quatab Minar-Gurgaon corridor.