Haryana government questioned over Reliance SEZ by HC
While taking back nearly 1,400 acres of land allotted for developing one of the country’s biggest special economic zones (SEZs) under the public-private partnership or PPP model the Punjab and Haryana High Court has questioned the Haryana government for taking no action against Reliance Industries BSE -0.26 % Ltd ( RILBSE -0.26 %)
The state government was asked to furnish records of the terms and conditions of the contract as well as details of the acquisition of land in Gurgaon by the court.
A division bench headed by Justice Surya Kant recently requested the state government why it had not imposed any penalty though the SEZ had not appeared eight years after it was first planned.
After the company failed to develop the proposed SEZ the state government had in February decided to take back 1,383.68 acres from M/s Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd (RHSL)
The government was asked to explain its decision to pay Rs 343 crore to the company, which had demanded Rs 1,172 crore in lieu of the land by the court.
The landowners in the high court filed more than 80 petitions in 2007 against the government’s decision to hand over their land to the company for an SEZ.
Under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, was issued by the government on January 29, 2003, a notification is in this effect.
Some years before the SEZ was planned, about 1,700 acres was proposed to be acquired by the state government in five villages of Gurgaon
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government announced that the proposed SEZ, which was to be spread across 25,000 acres in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts close to the national capital.
It issued a final notification (under Section 6 of the Act) declaring that it would acquire about 1,600 acres after scaling down its target by 100 acres the state government on January 27, 2004
Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) were tasked with acquiring the land in Mohammadpur Jhadsa, Khansa, Narsingpur, Harsaroo and Garauli Khurd.
The government then decided to constitute a highpowered committee to reconsider its decision.
Senior advocates Chetan Mittal and Shailender Jain challenged the grounds of “public purpose” under which the land was acquired.
Aggrieved, some landowners petitioned the high court challenging the acquisition. In May 2005, Reliance Industries proposed an SEZ in Jhajjar. There was no plan to include parts of the Gurgaon land, which the government had sought to acquire in 2003, in the SEZ at that time.
The committee set up to review the 2003 Gurgaon land acquisition, came up with its verdict and decided to drop only about 50 acres on January 27, 2006. The company proposed to the government that Gurgaon be included in the project a week later.
The high court ordered a stay on the creation of third-party rights on the disputed land (106 acres) in 2009. The apex court recently remitted the matter back to the high court for fresh adjudication. The state government in Supreme Court which had adjourned the matter challenged this order.
Source: Economic Times
Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, Chetan Mittal, Garauli Khurd, Gurgaon, Harsaroo, Haryana government, Haryana High Court, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Jhajjar districts, Khansa, Mohammadpur Jhadsa, Narsingpur, Public-private partnership, Punjab, Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd, Reliance IndustriesBSE, Shailender Jain, special economic zones, Supreme Court, Surya Kant
