SC stays HC order for taking back 108 hectares of grazing land from Adani Ports
Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Gujarat High Court’s order passed last week that asked state authorities to take back 108 hectares of grazing land from Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Ltd in the Kachchh region and return it to villagers for cattle grazing.
A bench comprising justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan while issuing notice to the Ministry of Environment & Forest, the state government, Development Commissioner, Mundra Port and SEZ, and others noted that senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi’s argument that “though the counsel for the petitioner (Adani) was present before the HC and attempted to make submissions, he was not heard by the HC… we shall stay the impugned order.”
Rohatgi, appearing for Adani, argued that HC’s order was in «blatant breach of natural justice» as the company was not heard.
On July 5, the state government told the HC that it would reclaim 108 hectares (266 acres) of «gauchar» land previously allotted to Adani Ports in 2005 and return it to villagers for the purpose of grazing. The HC had directed the authorities to complete the resumption process of grazing land in Navinal village, Mundra.
Challenging the Gujarat government's move to reclaim the land, Adani in its appeal said that the HC could not have directed «implementation of a per se illegal order passed in breach of natural justice» and that too in a PIL filed 13 years back «which purports to recall/cancel an allotment of land made for consideration over 20 years back.
The company argued that the villagers had
