Wildwoods: Gujarat HC wants petitioner to add Centre as respondent

The Gujarat HC has directed the petitioner in the Wildwoods Resort land allotment case to join the Union government as a respondent in the Public Interest litigation.

The first division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice Vipul Pancholi is hearing the PIL filed by RTI Activist Sangathan. The petitioner has alleged that precious government land was sold to Wildwoods Resorts and Realties Pvt Ltd at a very low price by the then government in 2009. No advertisement was released for the auction of the plot of land. The said land parcel is situated very close to Gir forests and it is spread over 9,94,824 square metres. This deal has caused huge loss to the state exchequer.

The court has asked the petitioner to join the Union government as a respondent because the land is adjacent to Gir National Park. The petitioner had pleaded to cancel the land allotment. The matter is been adjourned and will be heard after two weeks.

The state government has strongly opposed the petition claiming that no irregularities have been committed in the deal, and stated that only after a three-tire examination of the land rate fixation was the proposal approved at the highest level.