Tatas get SC nod for Dubri project

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal of Kalinga Power Corporation in its dispute with the Tata group over land for a power plant in Dubri in Orissa.

The central government had cancelled the allotment of land to Kalinga Power Corporation due to the delay in setting up a thermal power plant. The company challenged the government action.

The Tata group argued before a Bench that it had already invested around Rs 3,000 crore for its steel project on the land allotted to it by the government. It stated that though Kalinga Power Corporation had been granted the lease of land, it had invested only Rs 50 lakh in 10 years.

Also, the central government had cancelled the land allotted to mine coal. Therefore, Kalinga Power's project could not go forward in any case. The Tata group can now go ahead with its project.

Kalinga Power pointed out that there were protests by land owners against the Tatas acquisition of the project land.

The Bench, comprising Justice GP Mathur and Justice RV Raveendran, observed that they were not concerned with the people's protests, which were occurring in other places too.

Kalinga Power had earlier challenged the government action in the Orissa High Court. Its writ petition was dismissed by the high court. It then filed a special leave petition, which has also been dismissed.

The Tata group can now go ahead with its project.