After 30 years of legal battle, woman gets Rs 7 crore plot for Rs 4 lakh

After a 30-year legal battle, Lata Jain is set to receive a plot of land worth Rs 7 crore, despite having originally paid only Rs 50,000 in 1988, reported TOI.

Jain had booked the plot to build a nursing home, but the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) later claimed that the land was disputed and offered her a refund. She refused and fought the case through the state consumer forum, which ruled in her favor in 2009. GDA's appeal to the Allahabad High Court was also rejected.

The high court criticized the GDA for not informing the state commission that the plot had been sold to someone else and for its delay in resolving the issue, according to the TOI report.


In 2010, GDA took the case to the Supreme Court. On April 5, the court upheld the previous decisions and ordered GDA to give Jain a 500 sqm plot in Nyay Khand 1, Indirapuram, at the 1988 rate of Rs 350 per sqm. The court also ordered GDA to pay her Rs 1 lakh in compensation within two months.

Today, the plot's market value is Rs 1.3 lakh per sqm, so the 500 sqm plot Jain will receive is worth about Rs 7 crore. However, she will only pay Rs 3.75 lakh for it.

Jain, now in her late 70s and in poor health said her relative Mohit to TOI, never used the land for the nursing home but continued to fight the case. The GDA will decide on the land allotment in its meeting on August 3. An official mentioned to TOI that GDA had offered Jain other plots in different schemes, which she declined. They are now set to provide the 500 sqm plot in Indirapuram as directed by the Supreme Court.