JVM supremo Babulal Marandi sits on a daylong hungerstrike at Morabadi grounds in Ranchi in support of Nagri residents on Tuesday. Promising to lead poor farmers and prevent the government from acquiring “agricultural” land for setting up educational campuses, he said that JVM would prefer to approach the people’s court. JVM made some immediate gains from Marandi’s protest, as over 100 residents of Nagri formally joined the party. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, July 10: Jharkhand High Court today adjourned a hearing on the Nagri land acquisition controversy till Monday but asked the state to begin a dialogue with villagers who have disrupted construction of campuses of three national academic institutes.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya Roy allowed the adjournment since advocate-general Anil Sinha was away in New Delhi, but asked the state government to work out a solution within the next week.

The bench also asked the government to decide whether “rule of road” or “rule of law” should prevail in the state, according to Rajeev Kumar, who appeared on behalf of Nagri residents who had filed an intervening petition challenging the acquisition of the land.

Kumar said the court agreed to the adjournment today on the request of advocate-general’s junior Rishi Kumar who sought a week’s time to put forward the state government’s view on the imbroglio that threatens the future of IIM-Ranchi, National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), all of which were allotted plots in Nagri on the outskirts of the state capital to set up permanent campuses.

According to Kumar, the court also made it clear during the hearing lasting barely two minutes that in case the state failed to come up with a solution, it would not hesitate to pass an “appropriate” order. “Take a decision by Monday. Failing which the court will do its own job,” he quoted the judges as saying.

Nagri residents’ petition claims the land acquisition was not as per the provision of law. Section 17 (4) of Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is used to acquire land in urgency and possession taken within hours and months. But they contend that since the government did not take possession of the land for more than 50 years, it indicated there was no urgency.

Therefore, acquisition under Section 17(4) was wrong and illegal.

While hearing the original petition filed by Bar Association, the court had on May 16 asked the state government to submit a report on the progress of construction of the boundary wall of NUSRL.

Work on constructing boundary walls around the campus plots of the three institutions has been stalled ever since July 4 when protests against the cradles snowballed into a violent showdown with the police.

Two villagers were arrested and attempt to murder charges slapped on them after Ranchi SP (rural) Asim Vikrant Minz and his bodyguard were injured.

The dispute centres around the ownership of around 227 acre land in Nagri, including 13 acre for a proposed Ring Road, where the campuses are coming up. Villagers claim the state’s land acquisition procedure followed in the ’50s was faulty and that they were in possession of the land and also paid rent to the government till 2011.

On April 30, the court directed the state to ensure that construction of the NUSRL boundary wall began within 48 hours. It did. But, in the meantime, the villagers approached Supreme Court which refused to entertain the matter. This prompted the violent protest of July 4.

Politicians, cutting across party lines, sensing an opportunity to show off their tribal leanings, have thrown in their lot with the villagers. Social workers have also extended their support, egging on villagers to pursue a “do or die” fight for the return of their land.