Illegal constructions in Noida and Greater Noida : A new challenge for Yogi government

The twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida were always envisioned as well planned and developed cities by the Yogi and Modi governments. But a spate of challenges is now eclipsing this dream. While the Noida Authority, GNIDA (Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority) and YEIDA (Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority) are directly responsible for overlooking development in the sectors, the villages (rural areas) of Noida and Greater Noida are becoming a den of illegal colonisers, land mafia and fly-by-night builders. While the state government is proactively engaged in demolition activities against unauthorised structures built on authority-acquired land, the villages of Greater Noida West are witnessing haphazard and unplanned development right under the glaring eyes of the state administration. Hundreds of builder floor societies and shopping complexes are being constructed without any conversion of agricultural land and without any sanctioned plan from GNIDA, thus usurping thousands of hectares of arable land and depleting the underground water table through illegal extraction of groundwater for these unauthorised projects.

The registration conundrum : While lakhs of people in the planned sectors of Noida and Greater Noida are eagerly waiting for registrations of their newly purchased legally constructed flats, the registrations of illegally constructed apartments in the rural areas of the twin cities are happening at a lightning pace. According to a Dainik Jagran newspaper report published on November 17, 2024, around three lakh people are waiting for their legally bought flats in Noida and Greater Noida. This pushed many people to acquire unauthorised properties in the rural areas of the cities. As of today, 70,000 builder floor flats are under construction in more than 2000 illegal residential projects in Noida and Greater Noida, in which 75 percent of the properties are already booked. Due to ongoing litigations and delays in construction and handover of legally constructed high-rise projects, the illegal colonisers and land mafias are luring gullible people into buying unauthorised flats and commercial shops in the villages.

As per the established land use rules of GNIDA and Noida Authority, no unplanned construction is allowed in the notified villages of Noida and Greater Noida, without the authority’s approval. The kisaan abaadi land in the villages are reserved for farmers and landholders who are traditionally living in Noida and Greater Noida since generations. The three tehsil offices in Gautam Buddh Nagar (Dadri Tehsil, Noida’s Sadar Tehsil and Jewar Tehsil) are built to handle the documentation and legal nitty-gritties of villagers living in the rural areas of Noida and Greater Noida. But nowadays, these three tehsil offices have become a hotbed of registrations of flats and apartments built in illegal builder societies.

Earlier the district panchayats and zilla parishads were responsible for passing building plans for construction of houses in the villages. But since the zilla parishad and panchayat system was scrapped in 2015, an administrative power vacuum ensued and has created new complexities. There is a provision of floor wise registration of flats in legally built group housing societies built on leasehold land notified by the GNIDA and Noida Authority. But the same registration system is now being implemented by the illegal colonisers in the villages and the registrations are happening without any checks and balances in the three tehsil offices. Multi-storeyed buildings are being built on kisaan abaadi land and multiple registrations are being executed on a single khasra land. As these villages are outside the administrative jurisdiction of Noida Authority, GNIDA and YEIDA, and the old panchayat system has been scrapped, the illegal colonisers are having a free run minting thousands of crores of rupees worth of black money. “These haphazard developments in the notified villages of Greater Noida are creating new problems for the state government in acquiring land parcels for planned development of the city. The government is unable to notify multiple khasras of land for priority acquisition for execution of ambitious projects like roads, parks, electricity substations and datacentres”, said Jitendra Gautam, OSD (Officer on Special Duty), GNIDA. The state government must crackdown immediately on the illegal registration of flats in the three tehsil offices without any further delay.
 

Supreme Court’s brutal rap

While dealing with the issue of illegal and unauthorised constructions, the Supreme Court, in C.A. No. 14604 of 2024, Rajendra Kumar Barjatya and Anr. Vs. U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad & Ors. [2024 INSC 990], had, inter alia held that illegal and unauthorised construction cannot be perpetuated and such constructions have to be necessarily demolished. The order was passed on December 17, 2024. The relevant parts of the judgement are extracted as follows:

•             The registration of the property would not in any way amount to regularising the unauthorised construction. The power to take action against an unauthorised construction is independent and not in any way connected to the Registration Act. Seen from any angle the appellants cannot claim that the construction of shops was in accordance with law. Illegally of unauthorised construction cannot be perpetuated.

•             Regularisation schemes must be brought out only in exceptional circumstances and as a onetime measure for residential houses after a detailed survey and considering the nature of land, fertility, usage, impact on the environment, availability and distribution of resources, proximity to water bodies/rivers and larger public interest. Unauthorised constructions, apart from posing a threat to the life of the occupants and the citizens living nearby, also have an effect on resources like electricity, ground water and access to roads, which are primarily designed to be made available in orderly development and authorised activities.

•             While issuing the building planning permission, an undertaking be obtained from the builder/applicant, as the case may be, to the effect that possession of the building will be entrusted and/or handed over to the owners/beneficiaries only after obtaining completion/occupation certificate from the authorities concerned.

•             The builder/developer/owner shall cause to be displayed at the construction site, a copy of the approved plan during the entire period of construction and the authorities concerned shall inspect the premises periodically and maintain a record of such inspection in their official records.

•             Upon conducting personal inspection and being satisfied that the building is constructed in accordance with the building planning permission given and there is no deviation in such construction in any manner, the completion/occupation certificate in respect of residential / commercial building, be issued by the authority concerned to the parties concerned, without causing undue delay. If any deviation is noticed, action must be taken in accordance with the Act and the process of issuance of completion/occupation certificate should be deferred, unless and until the deviations pointed out are completely rectified.

•             All the necessary service connections, such as, Electricity, water supply, sewerage connection, etc., shall be given by the service provider / Board to the buildings only after the production of the completion/occupation certificate.

•             Even after issuance of completion certificate, deviation / violation if any contrary to the planning permission brought to the notice of the authority immediate steps be taken by the said authority concerned, in accordance with law, against the builder / owner / occupant; and the official, who is responsible for issuance of wrongful completion /occupation certificate shall be proceeded departmentally forthwith.

•             No permission /licence to conduct any business/trade must be given by any authorities including local bodies of States/Union Territories in any unauthorized building irrespective of it being residential or commercial building.

•             The development must be in conformity with the zonal plan and usage. Any modification to such zonal plan and usage must be taken by strictly following the rules in place and in consideration of the larger public interest and the impact on the environment.

•             Whenever any request is made by the respective authority under the planning department/local body for co-operation from another department to take action against any unauthorized construction, the latter shall render immediate assistance and cooperation and any delay or dereliction would be viewed seriously. The States/UT must also take disciplinary action against the erring officials once it is brought to their knowledge.

•             In the event of any application / appeal / revision being filed by the owner or builder against the non-issuance of completion certificate or for regularisation of unauthorised construction or rectification of deviation etc., the same shall be disposed of by the authority concerned, including the pending appeals / revisions, as expeditiously as possible, in any event not later than 90 days as statutorily provided.

•             If the authorities strictly adhere to the earlier directions issued by this court and those being passed today, they would have deterrent effect and the quantum of litigation before the Tribunal / Courts 592 8 relating to house / building constructions would come down drastically. Hence, necessary instructions should be issued by all the State/UT Governments in the form of Circular to all concerned with a warning that all directions must be scrupulously followed and failure to do so will be viewed seriously, with departmental action being initiated against the erring officials as per law.

•             Banks / financial institutions shall sanction loan against any building as a security only after verifying the completion/occupation certificate issued to a building on production of the same by the parties concerned.

•             The violation of any of the directions would lead to initiation of contempt proceedings in addition to the prosecution under the respective laws.
 

The story of Krishna Homes: A classic example of illegal construction

In late 2023, Trinity Ventures- a well-known property broking firm which is also involved in illegal constructions in Greater Noida West’s villages started an aggressive marketing plea through phone calls and messages. The firm developed a project called “Pristine Greens” at Bisrakh Village. And then it sold multiple flats in Krishna Homes, a project located at Khasra No. 233a in Jalpura village which was developed by Gaurik Green Homes Pvt Ltd. in collaboration with Aspire Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. Both these developers- Gaurik Green Homes and Aspire Buildwell are fly-by-night builders which are engaged in illegal colonisation of Bisrakh and Jalpura villages of Greater Noida West. Around 100 families / 400 people (including this journalist) were lured into buying flats in Krishna Homes. All the flats were registered on e-etamp paper in Dadri Tehsil Office.

Trinity Ventures also took a payment of Rs.35,000 from each flat owner promising the installation of electricity meters. But suspicions rose when the primary builder (Gaurik Green Homes Pvt. Ltd.) started supplying the society from illegally stolen electricity from street poles. When the residents reached the office of NPCL (Noida Power Company Limited), a startling revelation followed. The society didn’t have any NOC (No Objection Certificate) from GNIDA. Later, GNIDA officials clarified that no land was ever sanctioned to the society and no building plan was passed either, thus rendering the residential complex without electricity for many days in a row. People were forced to sleep in their balconies and terrace for escaping from the summer heat at night and diesel generators had to be arranged for running the submersible water pumps for water supply. Women and children fell sick and had to be hospitalised. After the horrendous ordeal, when residents met Dr. Mahesh Shama, the Member of Parliament from Gautam Buddh Nagar lok sabha constituency, the MP wrote to GNIDA’s CEO- Ravi Kumar NG for clearing the society’s NOC. But as the property was illegally built on rural agricultural and kisaan abaadi land without any land use conversion executed, GNIDA outrightly rejected the NOC. The residents depended on stolen electricity arranged by the builder for more than a year. The story of Krishna Homes in Jalpura village was published by multiple national and local newspapers like Dainik Jagran, Rashtriya Sahara, Dainik Bhaskar, Haribhoomi, Deshbandhu, Pioneer, Navbharat Times, Jansatta and Hindustan Times; news portals like Tricity Today, Panchayat 24; and also, AajTak TV news channel. Due to widespread protests by residents and intense coverage by the mainstream media, the local administration and one of the builders in the society finally found a stopgap measure. An NOC was covertly arranged by showing Krishna Homes as the private residential house of a farmer in GNIDA’s records. Following the issuance of NOC, Aspire Buildwell arranged a low power 25kva transformer and an electricity meter from NPCL literally through the backdoor.

Meanwhile the illegal builders are now engaged in multiple unauthorised projects in Jalpura village which include residential cum shopping complexes like “Trinity High Street” and “Krishna Elite Homes.” Dadri Tehsil office is too busy now in relentlessly registering these properties without any checks and balances.

The story of Krishna Homes is an extraordinary example of how gullible people get entrapped by spending their hard-earned money in this illegal colonisation racket in the villages of Greater Noida.
 

The ongoing NGT case

In 2024, Ghaziabad resident and five-time municipal councillor and prominent BJP leader Rajendra Tyagi filed a petition at the NGT (National Green Tribunal) against illegal constructions (Original Application No. 329/2024, being represented by Advocate Akash Vashishtha). In an order dated December 9, 2024, the NGT banned all illegal constructions of residential apartments and commercial complexes in Noida and Greater Noida. NGT also clearly stated that any establishment which lacks an EC (Environmental Clearance), CTE (Consent to Establish) and CTO (Consent to Operate) from the UPPCB (Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board) will not be permitted to proceed with constructions. The tribunal also directed the UPPCB to prevent illegal plotting in the floodplain zones of Hindon and Yamuna rivers. The last hearing in the case took place on March 27, 2025. But despite of the NGT’s directives and Supreme Court’s orders, the upcoming Krishna Elite Homes and Trinity High Street projects are typical but outstanding examples of how contempt of court is desperately being committed.
 

Time to nip it in the bud

It is high time for the Yogi government to crack down on these land mafias and unauthorised builders with an iron fist, so that it proves to be a real deterrence for illegal colonisers. And at the same time, the state government must develop and implement advanced softwares and AI solutions which may prevent the unauthorised registration of illegal properties in the tehsil offices (Dadri Tehsil, Sadar Tehsil and Jewar Tehsil). A widespread campaign must be launched by the state government through social media and the mainstream media through which common people are clearly informed that it is possible to buy flats and shops in Noida and Greater Noida built on leasehold land sanctioned legally by the authorities, and that it is not legally possible to buy residential and commercial properties built on freehold plots. This will help millions of homebuyers and will prevent them from falling into the traps of the fly-by-night illegal builders. The 2027 Uttar Pradesh elections are not too far. The Narendra Modi-led union government and Yogi Adityanath-led state government must do a course correction before it is too late and the opposition parties create a hullabaloo about it at the opportune moment.

By Amartya Sinha
(The content of this article reflects the views of writers and contributors, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)