GREATER NOIDA: The division bench of the Allahabad High Court has dismissed review petition filed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) while refusing to reopen its earlier order that gave relief to a firm in a dispute about allotment and possession of land for a residential township in Yeida area (Yamuna City).
HT has a copy of this order that was made public on Sunday.
While holding that Yeida failed to bring to the fore any valid legal point “error apparent on the face of the record” in the high court’s November 16, 2023 judgment, a division bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava, ruled that the review petitions amounted to an attempt to re-argue the case on merits, which is impermissible under law.
The dispute relates to a 100-acre township plot in Sector 18, under a 2011 Yeida scheme.
Bids were invited for 100 acres, with consortium participation permitted, and a Silverline Furnishing and Furnitures Private Limited-led consortium emerged successful.
In March 2011, Yeida issued a reservation letter demanding a total premium of about ₹192 crore for roughly 404,000 sqm of land. Ten per cent of the premium was deposited in April 2011, said Yeida officials, requesting anonymity.
However, instead of allotting the entire reserved area, Yeida issued an allotment letter for 287,000 sqm in December 2011, assuring that the remaining land would be allotted once it would come under its possession, said the court order.
Acting on this assurance, the firm (Silverline) paid another 20% of the premium, along with about ₹8 crore in stamp duty and ₹1.44 crore as advance lease rent in February 2012, said officials.
Despite this, Yeida executed a lease deed (that allows the use for specified period) for only 184,000 sqm, citing third-party litigation and possession-related constraints, while promising to allot the balance land (220,000 sqm) later and adjust excess payments, said officials.
Silverline consistently maintained that actual physical possession of even the leased land was never handed over, describing the possession certificate issued in March 2012 as a mere paper formality.
In its 2023 judgment, the High Court examined the possession certificate and lease plan and found serious inconsistencies, including absence of boundaries and lack of clarity on the location of the leased area.
A joint site visit in August 2015 also failed due to farmer agitation, said officials.
Despite non-delivery of possession, Yeida raised repeated demand notices, including one for ₹101 crore in 2016 and another for nearly ₹199 crore in November 2020, and cancelled the allotment and lease deed in July 2022 even as the matter was pending in court, said officials.
Upholding its 2023 findings, the High Court has now said that the review jurisdiction is limited, and cannot be used as an appeal in disguise.
With the dismissal of the review petitions on January 22, 2026, the court’s earlier directions requiring Yeida to hand over possession, execute an additional lease deed and revise demands continue to stand.
Shailendra Bhatia, additional chief executive officer, Yeida said, “The Authority will look into the order, and do the needful as per law.”
Silverline wasn’t available for the comments despite HT’s repeated attempts.