The court also imposed Rs 10 lakh as cost on the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and directed it to hand over the land to the villagers and farmers.
The Apex court bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said, the GNIDA allotted the land to builders in complete violation for which the land was acquired. The bench said even before the government approved the use of land from industrial to residential purposes, the authority allotted the land to some builders.
The court passed its order on a petition filed by GNIDA and real estate developers and builders, including Supertech and Amrapali, challenging the high court order which had quashed the notifications for land acquisition in Greater Noida adjoining the national capital.