The Gujarat High Court's today dismissed of a special civil petition against Reliance Infrastructure and the state government of Gujarat.A special civil petition was filed by Kanti Depar and others urging the Gujarat High Court to quash land acquisition proceedings for Reliance's Jamnagar SEZ refinery. The petitioners challenged the company and the state government on the basis of the improper conduct of the district collector regarding the delegating the duty of land enquiry to the deputy collector.It was also contended by the petitioners that the acquisition proceedings initiated by the government for acquiring land of the villages of Kanalus, Padana and Navagam were not for the public purpose. Dismissing the petition the high court observed that the enquiry was in accordance to the permissible law of government and the petitioner had willingly and actively participated in the enquiry and had not raised any kind of objection during the enquire period that was conducted by the deputy collector. The high court further observed that the accusation of lands needed for work of the company to enable it to provide infrastructure falls within the meaning of public purpose as per the SEZ Rule 2006.On the contention by the petitioner that the inquiry officer failed to determine the compensation was also dismissed by the court. The court has also observed that the government machinery has satisfied itself regarding the compensation deal for the land acquired. The petitioners' contention that inquiry officer did not consider potential value of land was negated by the high court as it held that it was not necessary for the deputy collector to determine the approximate amount of compensation that is likely to be potential value of the land.Touching the sensitive issue of rehabilitation and resettlement, the court observed that the petitioners are not to be displaced from residential houses nor any forceful migration or displacement from homesteads took place. Thereby the court dismissed the contention of the petitioner that the residence of the villages will be uprooted due to the upcoming SEZ.
