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2015 Supreme(Guj) 959
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
JAYANT PATEL & N.V. ANJARIA, JJ.
Jam Aala Ajabhai and Others – Appellants
Versus
Essar Power Gujarat Limited and Others – Respondents
Writ Petition (PIL) No. 136 of 2015
Decided On : 20-10-2015
Headnote:
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 226 - Public Interest Litigation - Petitioners, stating to be the agriculturists, have invoked the public interest jurisdiction of this court under Article 226 of the Constitution, and filed the present petition questioning the justifiability of allotment of Government land in favour of respondent No.1 - Held, Allotment of land under the impugned order to respondent No.1 company, considering all the above aspects could not be said to be arbitrary. It conforms the policy formulation of the State Government in respect of allotment of Gauchar land for industrial purpose. Policy Resolution dated 27th January, 1999 read with 01st April, 2015 dealing with policy of Gauchar land allotment, guidelines of Industrial Policy of 2003 are made applicable. The valuation of the property for the purpose of determination of price to be paid by the company was done under the Resolution dated 26th April, 2011 which provided for a mechanism and criteria for valuation of Government land - Looking to the land which is a long strip of 7.5 km. granted to the company for special purpose of conveyor corridor, non-holding of auction, when other attendant aspects are considered, did not amount to any arbitrariness or unfairness in the action of allotment. Nor it can be said that the same is in any way detrimental to the public interest - Allotment of land can be said to be meeting with the requirements of fairness and reasonableness - Petition dismissed.
N.V. ANJARIA, J.
1. The petitioners, stating to be the agriculturists, have invoked the public interest jurisdiction of this court under Article 226 of the Constitution, and have filed the present petition questioning the justifiability of allotment of Government land in favour of respondent No. 1 company.
2. By order dated 15th May, 2015, which is prayed to be set aside, the land admeasuring 12-44-45 Hectors in total comprising of Government waste land and Gauchar land at three different villages came to be granted at total price of Rs. 18,74,35,608/-. The allotment of land was for industrial purpose of setting up a coal conveyor corridor connecting the stock-yard at the project site of the company to the jetty. Three main grounds are raised to assail the order that the allotment was done without any defined policy, the land granted included Gauchar portion and that the process of auction was not resorted to, ultimately the allotment was against public interest.
3. Marshalling the facts from the record of the petition, it appears that respondent No. 1 company and the State Government signed Memorandum of Understanding during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit, 2007 for supply of power to M/s. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited. Respondent No. 1 was selected in capacity of lowest bidder for the project to supply the power at the rate of Rs. 2.4 per unit. The company set up 1,200 Mega Watt Thermal Power Plant. Out of that it was to supply 1,000 MW to M/s. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited. The respondent company constructed imported coal based power plant. The project envisaged setting up of a coal import facility comprising of jetty stock-yard and conveyor transportation system.
3.1 For setting up the project, respondent No. 1 company needed total land of the area 237-47-78 Hectares. For the said total need, the company privately purchased 209-38-76 Hectares of surrounding land of villages Nana Mandha, Mota Mandha and Parodia by way of registered sale deed directly from the land owners. It appears that the company applied to the State Government requesting to acquire total 18-03-41 Hectares of land, whereupon the State Government acquired 16-63-26 Hectares for the company under the Land Acquisition Act, 1879. It appears that the company was in need of further land in order to complete corridor conveyor belt, therefore applied on 29th August, 2007 and again on 31st July, 2008 for allocation of 153-88-33 Hectares of land being the parcels of Gauchar land and Government waste land at Nana Mandha Village.
3.2 It appears that subsequently, the company revised its demand and requested the State Government to grant lesser area. The details of initial demand and gradually reduced demand made by the company in this tabular form:-
Date of different application Government waste land Area in Hector Gauchar land Area in Hector
31.07.2008 12-70-20 96-99-98
19.09.2009 10-09-30 66-08-43
30.12.2011 10-09-30 29-00-00
06.12.2013 10-09-30 3-22-43
(Last updated demand of company) 1-37-46
3.3 Thus initially in application dated 31st July, 2008, respondent No. 1 demanded Government waste land of the area admeasuring 12-70-20 Hectares and Gauchar land admeasuring 96-99-98 Hectares which was gradually reduced in the subsequent applications dated 19th September, 2009 and 30th December, 2011, ultimately reducing the same to 10-09-30 Hectares for Government waste land and 1-37-46 Hectares out of Gauchar land.
3.4 The total area of 12-44-45 Hectares of land came to be granted to respondent No. 1. The details thereof is as under:-
S. No. Village Survey No. Total Area of the Survey No. (in hectares) Area of Land Allotted to Respondent No. 1 (in hectares)
1 Mota Mandha 488/1/P2 261-30-60 03-32-42
2 Nana Mandha 3/1/1/P1 304-06-74 03-42-12
3 Nana Mandha 3/1/1/1 116-87-39 00-97-69
4 Parodia 342 05-74-66 00-67-61
5 Parodia 340/3 61-97-80 01-97-82
6 Parodia 285/1 00-28-33 00-28-33
7 Parodia 285/2 02-07-40 00-41-00
8 Parodia 423 08-33-66 00-04-39
9 Parodia 424 14-87
