http://amkanakasez.blogspot.com/2010/11/hc-scraps-land-for-sezs-in-goa.html
HC SETBACK FOR SEZs HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, NOV 26 The Bombay High Court at Goa on Friday quashed and set aside the land allotments to the seven Special Economic Zone (SEZ) developers in the State. Justice F M Reis, who passed the judgement as the other Justice A S Oka is not sitting at Panjim, also asked the developers to apply afresh for the land. The court observed that the allotment of lands to the companies has been made in undue haste without proper scrutiny of their applications, the allotment of lands has been made arbitrarily, the procedure adopted in the allotment was not fair and transparent and the allotments made by the GIDC do not stand the test of reasonableness. The order said that the petitioners as well as the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) shall maintain status quo as of today for a period of four months. The order means that the petitioners shall not carry on any further construction on the said lands and shall not create any third party rights. On the other hand, the GIDC has also been directed not to dispossess the petitioners and not to allot the said lands to third parties. “If within a period of four months from today, fresh allotment is not made by the GIDC, on expiry of said four months, it will be open for the GIDC to take steps in accordance with law for taking possession of the land,” the order states. The Government of India had approved in principle 7 SEZs for the State of Goa, out of which three, namely, Meditab Specialities Pvt Ltd, Peninsula Pharma Research Pvt Ltd and K Raheja Corportion Pvt Ltd, were notified. The others were Maxgrow Filease Pvt Ltd, Planetview Mercantile Co Ltd, Inox Mercantile Co Ltd and Paradigm Logistics and Distributions Pvt Ltd. However, bowing to public pressure the State decided to scrap the SEZs in Goa. The seven promoters who were allotted land by the GIDC have demanded damages of over Rs 1500 cr from the Goa government. HC sets aside land allotment for SEZs TNN, Nov 27, 2010, 05.32am IST PANAJI: In a major blow to special economic zone (SEZ) developers, the high court of Bombay at Goa on Friday held that Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) had allotted over 30 lakh sq m of land to promoters illegally and sans proper scrutiny. Upholding the state government's decision to withdraw the SEZ policy in public interest, a division bench comprising justices A S Oka and F M Reis said, "The allotment of lands to the companies has been made in undue haste without proper scrutiny of their applications. The allotment has been made arbitrarily. Procedure adopted in the allotment is not fair and transparent. The allotments made byGIDC do not stand the test of reasonableness." The court, in its 195-page judgment, observed that the allotment of the public properties vested in GIDC can only be made in a fair and transparent manner and that too in public interest. It further said that such huge lands which are public properties were allotted for the asking to companies in a manner not known to law. The allotment of lands is illegal being arbitrary and unreasonable. The state government had, on June 15, 2009, withdrawn the state SEZ policy following a cabinet decision. Subsequently, GIDC had issued notices to the SEZ promoters seeking to take back the allotted land, following which the promoters had approached the high court. In the same case PILs had also been filed by villagers of Keri, Sancoale and Verna, challenging GIDC's decision to allot land in their respective villages on lease agreements to the SEZ promoters. The villagers complained that the land was allotted fraudulently. The court further held that as far as three notified SEZs are concerned, the stand of the Central government is that the Goa government should negotiate with the developers. It also said that the notifications have been issued on the basis of allotment of lands by GIDC. As the allotments are held to be illegal, notifications cannot be acted upon now. While granting some relief, the court dismissed petitions filed by three notified SEZs—Meditab Specialities Pvt Ltd, Peninsula Pharma Research Centre Pvt Ltd and K Raheja Corporation Pvt Ltd — and four other SEZ promoters — Paradigm Logistic and Distribution Private Ltd, Planetview Mercantile Company Pvt Ltd, Inox Mercantile Company Pvt Ltd and Maxgrow Finlease Pvt Ltd. -- SEZ VIRODHI MANCH [email protected] visit: http://amkanakasez.blogspot.com
