Gujarat HC quashes plea against Reliance SEZ refinery

Reliance's Jamnagar SEZ refinery got a major relief with the Gujarat High Court dismissing a special civil petition against Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and the state government.

The petition was filed by Kanti Depar and others urging the high court to quash the land acquisition proceedings for Reliance's Jamnagar SEZ refinery.

The petitioners challenged the proceedings on the basis of the alleged improper conduct of the district collector in delegating the duty of land enquiry to the deputy collector.

The petitioners also contended that the proceedings initiated by the government for acquiring lands of Kanalus, Padana and Navagam villages were not for public purpose.

Dismissing the petition, the high court observed that the inquiry was within the constitutional powers of the government and the petitioner had willingly and actively participated in the enquiry and had not raised any kind of objection during the enquiry period that was conducted by the deputy collector.

The high court further observed that the acquisition of lands to enable the company to provide infrastructure falls within the meaning of public purpose as per the SEZ Rule 2006.

The contention of the petitioner that the inquiry officer failed to determine the compensation was also dismissed. The court observed that the government machinery satisfied itself regarding the compensation for the land acquired.

The petitioners' contention that inquiry officer did not consider potential value of the 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 was likely to be potential value of the land.

Touching the sensitive issue of rehabilitation and resettlement, the court observed that the petitioners were not to be displaced from residential houses nor any forceful migration or displacement from homesteads should take place.

Thereby, the court assured the petitioners that the houses of the villagers faced no threat of being pulled down to make the way for the SEZ.