In a significant relief for Adani Ports, the Supreme Court today paused a Gujarat High Court order that had directed the state government to take back 108 hectares of grazing land from the company. This land is near Mundra port in Kachchh district. The Supreme Court has asked the Gujarat government to respond to this issue.
The issue dates back to 2005 when 108 hectares of land was given to Adani Ports. In 2010, when Adani Ports & SEZ started fencing the land, residents of Navinal village filed a Public Interest Litigation with the high court, challenging the allotment of 231 hectares of grazing land to the company.
The villagers argued that the allotment would leave them with only 45 acres of grazing land, which was insufficient for their needs. In 2014, the court closed the case after the state government promised to grant 387 hectares of government land for grazing.
When the state government did not fulfill this promise, a contempt petition was filed. In 2015, the state government filed a review petition and informed the court that only 17 hectares were available for the village panchayat. The state proposed allocating the remaining land about 7 kilometers away, but the villagers rejected this, saying it was too far for their cattle to graze.
In April this year, the court asked a senior revenue official to find a solution. The official reported that the state government had decided to take back nearly 108 hectares of land from Adani Ports. The revenue department stated that the state would “replenish” the villagers by adding government land to the tract taken back from Adani Power. The High Court then directed the state government to implement this plan.
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