Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has shot back at the Opposition, refuting all allegations regarding land acquisition for the proposed Vedanta University Project.
Responding to the adjournment motion on the issue moved by the Congress MLA Prasad Harichandan, Patnaik clarified that land acquisition for the project was not illegal.
The Opposition had tabled the motion in the wake of the Orissa High Court terming the land acquisition process for the proposed university as 'illegal and void' in a recent judgement.
Alleging the involvement of the chief minister’s office in the land acquisition process, the Congress and BJP MLAs had stalled the proceedings of the assembly during last two days and demanded Patnaik’s resignation.
Giving his initial response to the motion, the chief minister said,"After receipt of intimation of the Anil Agarwal Foundation about the change of its status from a private to a public limited company, notification was issued under Sub-Section 1 of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in respect of 7184.37 acres of land which was subsequently reduced to 6137.90 acres. Acquisition has since been made in respect of 3495.21 acres of private land while government land to the extent of 509.27 acres has also been leased out to the Foundation”.
Referring to the High Court verdict on the issue, he said, “The High Court has held that the Anil Agarwal Foundation is a private company and not a public company in terms of provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. Therefore, it has held that the acquisition of land in favour of the Foundation is not permissible except for some limited purposes enumerated under Section 40 (1) (a) of the Land Acquisition Act. In this connection, I may point out that acquisition was never made under this aforesaid provision but under Section 40 (1) (a) (a) or 40 (1(b) for a public purpose, the acquisition being for the purpose of setting up a university.”
He further clarified that the Anil Agarwal Foundation had confirmed to the state government regarding the change of its status from a private to a public company with effect from November 23, 2006 by a resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting pursuant to the approval of the regional director, Department of Company Affairs.
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"The company subsequently produced a letter dated February 21, 2007 from D K Gupta, Registrar of Companies to its address stating that the company has complied with the provisions of requirements of Section 25 of the Companies' Act and accordingly, the status of the company has been changed from a private company to a public limited company. A copy of this letter has also been filed before the High Court by the Foundation on June 20, 2008”, he added.
Patnaik also clarified that there has been no violation of Section 16 (2) of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act.
"So far as the acquisition of land from the Lord Jagannath Temple is concerned, about 606 acres spread over nine villages has been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. There is no violation of Section 16 (2) of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act by such acquisition as the above section mentions about previous sanction of the state government for lease, mortgage, sale and alienation of land belonging to Lord Jagannath and would not, therefore, apply to the acquisition of land under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act”, he added.
However, the Opposition was not satisfied with the Chief Minister's statement on the issue and created a din, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the house.