The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday refused to grant stay on execution of an eviction order of Kandla Port Trust (KPT) authorities against 42 salt manufacturing units in Kutch district following expiry of their lease term.
A division bench of Justices D H Waghela and G B Shah held that if stay was granted in the case it would conflict with outcome of other cases on the same matter which were pending in different courts. According to case details, the salt manufacturing units were given land owned by KPT on lease for production of salt. The lease term of the 42 units expired on March 31, 2012. Following this the KPT authorities issued eviction notice under the The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, in May. The salt manufacturers appealed against the eviction order of KPT in the Kutch district court, and demanded an immediate stay. After the district court refused to grant stay on the eviction order, they approached the HC seeking stay on the KPT order. HC not granting stay on the KPT eviction order, is likely to affect over 50,000 families that were earning their livelihood from the 42 salt manufacturing units spread across 16,000 acre land, lawyer for petitioner Ashim Pandya said.