The Punjab Government announced the withdrawal of its Land Pooling Policy 2025, just days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed its implementation.
The policy, introduced in May 2025 by the Aam Aadmi Party-led government, aimed to acquire thousands of acres across Punjab for urban development by offering landowners developed residential and commercial plots in return for their land. Critics, however, labelled it anti-farmer, citing the loss of fertile land and inadequate compensation.
On August 9, a division bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda observed that the policy had been notified in haste, without conducting mandatory social or environmental impact studies. The Court noted that the State intended to take over tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land without such assessments.
The stay order was passed in a petition filed by a Ludhiana resident, whose family was allotted six acres after being displaced from Pakistan. He argued that the policy was arbitrary, lacked fair compensation provisions, and offered only ₹50,000 per acre annually, an amount too small to sustain small and marginal farmers’ families.
In its press note, the Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed the rollback:
“Government hereby withdraws the Land Pooling Policy dated 14.05.2025 and its subsequent amendments. Consequently, all actions, like LOIs issued, registrations done or any other action taken thereunder shall be reversed henceforth.”