The Supreme Court today sought a response from the Adani Group of Companies, the Centre and others on a petition seeking to stall work at the former's Rs 7,400-crore multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) in Gujarat.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan issued a notice to Adani, the ministries of Commerce and Environment and Forests, Mundra Ports and Special Economic Zone, Gujarat government, Gujarat Pollution Control Board and others and tagged the petition with another similar plea filed by the fishermen of Gujarat.
Mundra SEZ, established under the SEZ Act of 2005, is proposed to come up in about 6,000 acre of land.
Challenging the Gujarat High Court's interim order that rejected their prayer for staying the development activities at Mundra SEZ, the petition filed by seven fishermen has opposed the allotment of land which falls in the areas that come within the purview of the Coastal Regulation Zone.
It assailed the filling and construction activity in the Coastal Regulation Zone undertaken by the Adani group in the creeks situated in Mundra area of Kutch district.
According to the petitioners, the company, after allotment of an additional area of 2113.7962 hectare of land, had undertaken construction and development activity for the additional SEZ without obtaining prior environmental clearance as mandated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests' notification of September 14, 2006.
