Lawyer moves SC against farm land acquisition for SEZs

Amid the raging controversy over the proposed establishment of special economic zones (SEZs), a petition has been moved in the Supreme Court challenging various state governments' decision to acquire farm lands at cheap rates for transfer to private companies.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an advocate, Manohar Lal Sharma, has opposed the allocation of lands to various private companies, including the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries in Punjab and the Anil Ambani-run Reliance Energy in Uttar Pradesh, for developing SEZs by the state governments.

The PIL, which is likely to be listed for hearing after the Dussehra vacation, has sought quashing of the allotment of lands to Anil Ambani Group in Uttar Pradesh and Mukesh Ambani Group in Maharashtra and Haryana. The advocate has stated that the Centre and state governments should be prohibited from using agricultural land for purposes other than crop cultivation.

The petition stated that acquisition of land by the government for private companies was illegal. The PIL mentioned the controversy over 2,500 acres of farm land allotted to Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Group at Dadri in Ghaziabad district for a power project.

The PIL claimed that allocation was arbitrarily done as the establishment of the project required only 700 acres of land.

It also challenged the allotment of 25,000 acres and 150 sq km land to the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries, in Gurgaon by the Haryana government and in the outskirts of Mumbai by the Maharashtra government, respectively.

The grant of 1,000 acres of farm land to the Tata Group for its small car project at Singur in Hooghly district has also been opposed by the PIL that alleged the land was forcibly acquired from 3,000 farmers.