Gujarat: HC notice to state over land allocation in Kutch

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court today issued notice to the state government and Jindal Group company Shree Saw Pipe Limited over a public interest litigation seeking cancellation of a land allocation in Kutch district in the aftermath of the 2001 earthquake.

The division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala sought a reply within two weeks while admitting the PIL filed by residents of Samaghoga village in Kutch.

The petition seeks to take back 50,000 square mt of land near the village, allotted to the company by the then Bhuj district collector Pradeep Sharma.

"The state government has lodged an FIR against Sharma for illegal allocation of land. The case has reached the Supreme Court and the illegality has been verified there," petitioner's lawyer Hetvi Sancheti argued.

"When the government held that there was a gross irregularity, it must cancel the allocation," the PIL says.

"Once the government claims that six orders for land allocation passed by Sharma were not legal, the authorities must annul the allocation orders and the land has to be taken back from the company," advocate Sancheti argued.

The bench kept the matter for further hearing on March 14.

Sharma, a 1984-batch IAS officer, is facing six criminal cases in Gujarat. He has claimed that he is being victimised by the BJP government.