The Supreme Court on Monday called upon farmers affected by acquisition of agricultural land for the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) all over the country to approach it directly, if eviction was forcible.

While dismissing the petition challenging the allotment of land to Anil Ambani’s ADA Group for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Dadri in Noida, a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice R V Raveendran said the farmers should approach the court directly wherever the land had been acquired against their will.

The court was dealing with the petition of Karnataka Landless Farmers’ Association and four farmers from Bangalore.

It asked the Centre, all states, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board(KIADB),Bangalore Development Authority and Karnataka Udyog Mitra to file their replies to the allegations in the petition.

Farmers K Indramma, M Marappa, N Puttaswamy and R N Varvanva Reddy of Bangalore alleged that their agricultural land had been acquired by the KIADB at a much lower price and sold to private builders, developers and industrialists to establish IT parks.

The court also issued directions for transfer of the cases filed in Mumbai HC, Calcutta HC and Punjab & Haryana HC on the issue of acquisition of land for SEZs by the Reliance, Tatas and other industrial houses to it for hearing.
When petitioner Manoharlal Sharma said agricultural land had been acquired all over the country, the court said, “you are not the affected party. Let the affected farmers approach the court”.

On May 16, the court had issued notices to the respondents on a PIL challenging the acquisition of cultivable land from farmers under the guise of “public purposes” for developing SEZs.

The petition filed by counsel D K Garg questioned the constitutional validity of Sections 3 (f), 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, that authorised governments to acquire agricultural land for “public purpose”, to hand it to builders, developers and industrialists.

Taj Corridor Scam
SC to examine Maya on sanction issue

New Delhi, dhns: The Supreme Court on Monday said it would examine whether the special environment Bench could hear the applications challenging Uttar Pradesh Governor’s refusal to grant sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Mayawati for her alleged involvement in the Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam.

“We are aware of the gravity of the matter but we need time to contemplate whether it can be heard before this Bench or not,” a three-judge Special Bench headed by Justice S B Sinha said while directing the petitioner to give the application to the amicus curiae.

The applications filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal and Krishan Mahajan has sought the direction of the court to the Union Government for U P Governor T V Rajeshwar's refusal to grant sanction for the prosecution of Mayawati and her cabinet colleague Naseemuddin Siddiqui.