SC upholds HC's order quashing land acquisition for Vedanta University

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Orissa High Court's 2010 decision to quash the acquisition of 6,000 acres of land in the year 2006 for Anil Agrawal led M/s Vedanta Resources Ltd to establish a university over there, saying the entire proposal was vitiated by favouritism and violative of right to equality guaranteed under the Constitution.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and Krishna Murari dismissed the appeal filed by Anil Agrawal Foundation against the judgement with Rs five lakh cost, noting "mala fide" intention on the part of the company which initially sought acquisition for 15,000 acres of land and subsequently reduced it to 3837 acres.

In strong observations, the bench said, "It is not appreciable why the government offered such an undue favour in favour of one trust/ company. Thus, the entire acquisition proceedings and the benefits, which were proposed by the state government were vitiated by favouritism and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution".

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The court said the proposal made now by the company for reduced land has to be rejected outright as the lands to be acquired are agricultural lands belonging to 6000 families, their only source of livelihood, which cannot be compensated in terms of money.

It also noted "the most important aspect" indicating the non-application of mind by the state government was on the environmental aspect and passing of two rivers from the acquired lands in question.

"Upon the lands in question two rivers namely ‘Nuanai’ and ‘Nala’ are flowing, which as such were acquired by the state government. How the maintenance of the rivers etc can be handed over to the beneficiary company. If the lands in question are continued to be acquired by the beneficiary company, the control of the rivers would be with the said private company, which would violate the Doctrine of Public Trust. Even requiring the beneficiary company to maintain the flow of the two rivers may also affect the residents of the locality at large," the bench said.

The court also said the High Court has rightly observed that the large-scale construction for the establishment of the proposed university will also adversely affect the Wildlife Sanctuary, the entire ecosystem and the ecological environment in the locality.

"Even the distance of the sea from the proposed Vedanta University is approximately 2000 meters. Merely because the Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary is separated from the proposed site by a highway – Puri-Konark Marine Drive, cannot be a ground to acquire the huge lands for the proposed university," the bench said.