Lucknow, Sep 1 The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench on Tuesday summoned the additional chief secretary (ACS) of the department concerned over the Uttar Pradesh government's "failure" to take a decision on an inquiry report which found the transfer of 59.11 acres of leased land to be illegal.
A bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla directed the ACS to appear personally before it at noon on Wednesday and explain the delay.
The case relates to 117 acres of land leased to Modi Rubber Ltd in 1972, out of which 59.11 acres was allegedly transferred to Modi Tyre Company Pvt Ltd and Continental India Pvt Ltd without the state government's consent.
The order was passed on a PIL filed by Lokesh Kumar Khurana, who alleged that the transfer violated the terms of the government grant under which the land was leased.
During an earlier hearing, Modi Rubber disputed the allegation that the land was sold, submitting that its transfer to the two companies was part of an arrangement before the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for the company's revival and rehabilitation. It also said the remaining land continued to be used for industrial purposes.
The state government had informed the court on October 8, 2025, that an inquiry committee constituted on the Meerut district magistrate's September 4, 2024 order had examined the matter and found that the transfer was made without the state's consent and was illegal.
The court had subsequently directed the government to disclose its decision on the report and file a supplementary counter-affidavit.
On Tuesday, the state sought three more weeks to inform the court about its decision.
Taking exception to the delay, the bench directed the ACS to explain why no decision had been taken and why the supplementary counter-affidavit had not been filed despite its October 8, 2025 order.
