MOHALI, Sept. 2 — A Mohali court has ordered the attachment of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority’s (GMADA) Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) office after the authority failed to release enhanced compensation to landowners of Sectors 97, 106 and 107 in a 12-year-old dispute.
The case involves 6.34 acres of land acquired in 2013 for a mega township project developed by M/s Unitech Ltd. The court had earlier enhanced compensation by ₹2.39 crore per acre, in addition to statutory benefits. Despite the ruling, GMADA did not make the payments, prompting the court to issue warrants of attachment.
The court stressed that the state government was legally bound to deposit the awarded amount with the executing court. “The decree holders are held entitled to the compensation so awarded, and in case of any dispute between M/s Unitech Limited or GMADA, the same is inter-se between them, not affecting the rights of the decree holders,” the order stated. The judgment directed the parties to pay the compensation claimed under the execution petition on August 28, 2025.
Armed with the order, jubilant landowners gathered at GMADA’s Sector 62 office with drumbeaters (dholi) to celebrate what they called long-delayed justice.
GMADA had argued that M/s Unitech Ltd had filed an application and stay plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the October 29, 2016 judgment enhancing compensation. But the Mohali court dismissed those objections as “devoid of merit.”
The bailiff has been directed to return the warrant by September 3, either after executing the order or explaining why it could not be carried out.
