Bullet train: Gujarat High Court to start dictating verdict from Jan 24

The Gujarat High Court is all set to bring finality to the disputes in the land acquisitions for the ambitious bullet train project. Notably, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav, which was occupied with the matter and held marathon hearings, on Friday clarified that it will start dictating the judgment in the multiple litigations in the open-court from January 24.

Several farmers had approached the high court against the acquisition of their land for the bullet train project claiming that they are being offered poor compensation and the state has refused to provide them with any rehabilitation and resettlement package as prescribed under the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

Notably, the state government, as earlier instructed by the court, on Friday submitted details of the land acquisitions carried out by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Ministry of Railways for their highway and dedicated freight corridor projects, which are located in close proximity and along the proposed corridor for bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The state, however, submitted that the compensation paid by the above agencies were on the lower side as the acquisitions were of 2010.

Advocate general Kamal Trivedi told DNA that the arguments in the case have been already concluded and now the court will start dictating its verdict in the case from January 24, which would stretch upon a few days to be completed.

Meanwhile, counsel for the farmers Anand Yagnik pointed out the huge disparity between the land rates as per the jantri and the rates offered to landowners for projects such as dedicated freight corridor.