High Court in Punjab and Haryana halts AAP administration's Land Pooling Policy, reasons unveiled
Punjab and Haryana High Court Stays Operation of Land Pooling Policy 2025
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued an interim stay on the operation of Punjab's Land Pooling Policy 2025, questioning the legality of the policy and whether necessary Social and Environmental Impact Assessments were conducted before its notification.
The interim order was passed on August 7, 2022, by a Bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda. The court directed the Punjab government to clarify these aspects, as there were concerns over compliance with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act) and the policy's impact on farmers and land-dependent laborers.
The Land Pooling Policy 2025, which aims to acquire thousands of acres of land across districts in Punjab for urban development, has faced mounting legal and public opposition. The State of Punjab is proposing to take over tens of thousands of acres of fertile land for proposed development works.
Following the interim stay, the Punjab government officially decided to denotify and withdraw the Land Pooling Policy 2025 on August 15, 2025. This action came four days after the High Court's interim stay and amid strong protests from farmer groups and opposition parties demanding formal scrapping of the policy.
The court raised serious issues about the bypassing of existing statutory frameworks like the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, and lack of mandatory impact assessments, which are crucial under the LARR Act, 2013. The stay halted any further implementation of the policy to protect multi-cropped fertile agricultural land, which the court recognized as essential to Punjab’s social and economic fabric.
Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Shailendra Jain submitted that land is proposed to be taken not only through direct acquisition but by way of compulsory acquisition as well. The court was told that there is no provision for providing compensation at the time of acquisition under the policy.
The government’s withdrawal reflects a retraction in the face of legal, environmental, and socio-political challenges, showing the policy was both legally and publicly contested and found deficient in following due process. As of the latest updates in August 2025, the high court stay remains a landmark judicial check, effectively nullifying the Punjab Land Pooling Policy 2025 pending any new legal or policy steps by the state government.
Gurjeet Singh Gill, Manan Kheterpal, and Mannat Bir Kaur represented the petitioner, while Gurminder Singh, Maninderjit Singh Bedi, with Additional Advocate Generals Maninder Singh, Shekhar Verma, and Kuljit Singh represented the State of Punjab. Shailendra Jain, Senior Advocate, appeared with advocate Rahul. The stay was granted in the case Gurdeep Singh Gill vs State of Punjab and Another.
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