SC issues notice to Chautala, farmers on Reliance plea
The SC today issued notice to INLD leader Ajay Chautala among others on an appeal by Mukesh Ambani group's Reliance Ventures seeking transfer of petitions challenging setting up of SEZ.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to INLD leader Ajay Chautala among others on an appeal by Mukesh Ambani group's Reliance Ventures seeking transfer of petitions challenging setting up of special economic zones by acquiring agricultural lands.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought responses from Chautala and farmers asking them why the petitions pending before different high courts should not be transferred to the apex court.
Reliance counsel Harish Salve said the petitions pending before two high courts should be transferred to Supreme Court, which is already hearing two similar pleas, so as to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and conflicting judgments.
The bench, after preliminary hearing, also tagged the matter with related petitions filed by an association of landless farmers of Karnataka and Karnataka Kisan & Khet Mazdoor Sangha (farmers and farm laborers union) challenging acquisition of cultivable land under the guise of "public purpose" for developing SEZs.
The court on May 16 had asked the Centre, all states and the Union Ministry of Commerce as well as Ministry of Agriculture to furnish their responses on the petition filed by farmer bodies seeking to restrain state governments from acquiring land to encourage private investment.
The petitions, citing figures of how much land had been acquired in states like Karnataka and West Bengal, had sought a direction to rehabilitate all displaced farmers.
Farmers and landlords had challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 3 (f), 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 that authorises governments to acquire farm land for "public purpose" for builders, developers and industrialists. They claimed that it deprived farmers and cultivators of their land and livelihood and forcing them to commit mass suicide.
The association had pointed out that till September 2006, the Board of Approval in the Commerce Ministry had approved 267 SEZs and the area for SEZs was as large as 14,000 hectare.
In a similar petition, Chautala had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to quash the Memorandum of Understanding and the subsequent proceedings arising from it between the Haryana government and Reliance Ventures.
Alleging that precious land measuring about 1,600 acre in Gurgaon and other areas with current market price of nearly Rs 6,000 crore was given to Reliance for a paltry Rs 260 crore, Chautala had said this was against the interests of those farmers whose land had been acquired at nominal rates.
Farmers had also moved the Bombay High Court seeking to stop acquiring land in the Pen-Panvel-Uran belt and Raigad for the Reliance SEZ.
However, the apex court today dismissed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma challenging land acquisitions for setting up SEZs by big industrial offices like Reliance and Tata.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought responses from Chautala and farmers asking them why the petitions pending before different high courts should not be transferred to the apex court.
Reliance counsel Harish Salve said the petitions pending before two high courts should be transferred to Supreme Court, which is already hearing two similar pleas, so as to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and conflicting judgments.
The bench, after preliminary hearing, also tagged the matter with related petitions filed by an association of landless farmers of Karnataka and Karnataka Kisan & Khet Mazdoor Sangha (farmers and farm laborers union) challenging acquisition of cultivable land under the guise of "public purpose" for developing SEZs.
The court on May 16 had asked the Centre, all states and the Union Ministry of Commerce as well as Ministry of Agriculture to furnish their responses on the petition filed by farmer bodies seeking to restrain state governments from acquiring land to encourage private investment.
The petitions, citing figures of how much land had been acquired in states like Karnataka and West Bengal, had sought a direction to rehabilitate all displaced farmers.
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Farmers and landlords had challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 3 (f), 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 that authorises governments to acquire farm land for "public purpose" for builders, developers and industrialists. They claimed that it deprived farmers and cultivators of their land and livelihood and forcing them to commit mass suicide.
The association had pointed out that till September 2006, the Board of Approval in the Commerce Ministry had approved 267 SEZs and the area for SEZs was as large as 14,000 hectare.
In a similar petition, Chautala had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to quash the Memorandum of Understanding and the subsequent proceedings arising from it between the Haryana government and Reliance Ventures.
Alleging that precious land measuring about 1,600 acre in Gurgaon and other areas with current market price of nearly Rs 6,000 crore was given to Reliance for a paltry Rs 260 crore, Chautala had said this was against the interests of those farmers whose land had been acquired at nominal rates.
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Farmers had also moved the Bombay High Court seeking to stop acquiring land in the Pen-Panvel-Uran belt and Raigad for the Reliance SEZ.
However, the apex court today dismissed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma challenging land acquisitions for setting up SEZs by big industrial offices like Reliance and Tata.
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