Chandigarh, Sept. 27 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has ordered status quo on construction and possession over 469 acres of land in Rajpura allegedly sold by M/s Shriram Industrial Enterprises Limited (SIEL Ltd) to a private developer - SBP group.

As per the plea, Punjab signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on October 14, 1993, with SIEL Ltd for acquiring 1,000 acres of land in the vicinity of Rajpura in Patiala for industrial development. Out of the acquired land, 469.37 acres were sold for more than Rs.117 crore by the SIEL to SBP group in October 2024 in "violation" of the terms and conditions, as per the plea.

The high court bench of justice Deepak Sibal and justice Lapita Banerji acted on the plea of farmers, who a...