The Gujarat High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) which alleges a land purchase scam for the state's solar park project at Charanka village in Santalpur block of Patan district.
A two-judge bench of the High Court, comprising acting Chief Justice V M Sahai and Justice R P Dholaria, dismissed the PIL which alleged that around 918 hectares of land was purchased by the state government in 2011 by paying a price 20 times more than its market rate.
The land was purchased by state-run Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) and the PIL had alleged that Chief Secretary D J Pandian was involved in the alleged scam. Pandian was Managing Director (MD) of the state-run Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) in 2011 when the land was purchased. He was promoted as chief secretary in October last year.
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On August 27, 2014, the High Court had directed a probe against the chief secretary for his role in the alleged excess payment of compensation for acquiring land for a solar park. Gujarat government had probed the matter through its revenue department and given a clean chit to Pandian in its report placed before the High Court on Decemmber 20 last year.
The High court had acted on the PIL filed by a local Congress leader Farsu Goklani who had alleged that a small group of people had purchased a large chunk of land in Charanka just before the issuance of the 2011 notification that a solar park would be established near Charanka village.
