Supreme Court commences hearing on land acquisition for special economic zones

Seven years after the first plea was made, the Supreme Court today commenced the crucial final hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging the validity of the Special Economic Zone policy of the Centre and the laws governing it for the acquisition of land in the country.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam will examine the contentions and counter-contentions raised by farmers, politicians and big corporates on the issue of controversial land acquisitions in different parts of the country to set up SEZs.

All the petitions filed across the country since 2006 on the issue of SEZ Act, 2005 have been clubbed.

The allocation of land by state governments, including to Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries in Punjab and Haryana and Anil Ambani-run Reliance Energy in Uttar Pradesh, for developing SEZs will be under scrutiny.

The petitioners, including farmers group from different states, have submitted that governments should be prohibited from allowing use of agricultural land for purposes other than crop cultivation and contended acquisition of land for business growth of private companies by the government was illegal.

Big business houses, which have been allocated land for SEZ development have opposed the plea against them.

Haryana Janhit Congress leader Kuldip Bishnoi and Ajay Singh Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal have raised questions about the acquisition of farmland for SEZs in Haryana.