Chandigarh, Feb. 21 -- The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report, tabled in the Haryana Assembly on Friday, has found that the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) used a piece of privately owned land for a road project in Gurugram without acquiring it or paying compensation to the land owners. The lapse forced the landowners to petition the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) which subsequently directed the HSVP to purchase the land under new land acquisition law for Rs.3.97 crore, resulting in an additional burden of Rs.3.66 crore on the public exchequer. "Thus, use of the unacquired land in a road project by HSVP in violation of the constitutional right of the landowners and provisions of land acquisition laws and its acquisition only after the directions of the HC not only kept the landowners deprived of their land without any compensation but also led to additional financial burden of Rs.3.66 crore (Rs.3.97 crore - Rs.0.31 crore) on HSVP," reads a compliance audit report of CAG. The CAG has recommended to the state government to consider fixing responsibility for using the private land in a road project without acquisition, in violation of the constitutional right of the landowners and provisions of the land acquisition laws. The audit said that article 300A of the Constitution provided that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. As per Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act), land needed for public purposes must be marked and measured. Under Section 9 (1) of LA Act, such land can be utilised only after payment of compensation for all interests in the land to the entitled persons. Haryana's urban estate department issued a notification under Section 4 of LA Act in January 2008 for acquiring 64.62 acres in Gurugram to develop a 150-metre-wide periphery road linking Dwarka Township in Delhi to NH-8 near Kherki Daula village. The declaration under Section 6 of LA Act was issued in March 2008 and an award of Rs.52.90 crore was announced in September 2008 for 63.84 acres under Section 11 of LA Act, the report said. "Audit of the HSVP zonal administrator, Gurugram (November 2022) revealed that while acquiring 63.84 acres for the above road project, HSVP had used three kanal (0.375 acre) of land in Dhanwapur village in Gurugram for road construction without acquisition and payment of compensation to the landowners. This land was also not acquired during the subsequent process of land acquisition carried out in 2009-10 for sector roads in Sector 99 to 115 in Gurugram. The aggrieved landowners in December 2018 requested HSVP chief administrator for compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act). However, no action was taken by the HSVP on the request of the landowners despite the fact that unacquired land was used by it in road construction," the CAG said. The audit further said that this inaction caused the landowners to file a petition in the HC in April 2019. The high court in October 2021 directed Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran to initiate acquisition proceedings for the unacquired land under the RFCTLARR Act. Subsequently, a committee, in accordance with clause a (ii) of HSVP's revised policy, recommended in October 2021 purchase of the three kanal (0.375 acre) for Rs.3.97 crore. The land was formally transferred to HSVP through the sale deed executed in August 2023 by the landowners in favour of HSVP on payment of Rs.3.97 crore. The administrator, HSVP in November 2024 stated that during the execution of development work at site, it was revealed that some portion of adjoining unacquired land was much essential to be utilised for completion of HSVP project. To avoid lengthy acquisition process as per new land acquisition law, the HSVP framed a policy regarding purchase of unacquired land for infrastructure projects and paid Rs.3.97 crore, the report said. "The reply is not acceptable as HSVP was aware of the fact at the stage of development work at site that the unacquired land was to be used in the road project. However, it had used it in the road project without acquisition and purchased the same after an inordinate delay of 11 years and only after high court's intervention. The matter was referred to the additional chief secretary, town and country planning in May 2024. A reply was awaited as of July 2025,'' the audit report said....