On Wednesday (10th July), the Supreme Court stayed a Gujarat High Court order that directed the state government to reclaim grazing land given to an Adani Group entity in 2005. Notably, the 108 hectares (266 acres) of land is located near Mundra port in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
The bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was hearing the petition filed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (SEZ). The petition argued that the impugned order was required to be stayed in the interest of justice.
During today’s hearing, the bench said, “Issue notice. Stay of impugned order.” The apex court has now sought a reply from the Gujarat government on this issue.
Earlier this week, on 5th July, the Gujarat government informed the High Court that it would take back nearly 108 hectares of ‘gauchar’ (grazing) land which was allocated to an entity of the Adani Group in 2005.
Following the submission of the state government, the High Court had ordered, “Taking note of the affidavit of the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Revenue, State of Gujarat, we require the concerned authority/officers to complete the process of resumption in accordance with the law.” The court had then posted the matter for 26th July.
It all started after locals from Navinal village of Kutch district approached the High Court and filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in this matter. In their PIL, they challenged the administration’s decision to allot 231 acres of ‘gauchar’ land to the Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.
According to the villagers, while the land was allotted to the Adani Ports and SEZ in 2005, they only learned about the decision in 2010 when APSEZ began fencing the land. In their plea, the villagers contended that it had left them with just 45 acres of grazing land.
However, in 2014, the High Court dismissed the PIL after getting an assurance from the state government that they would grant an additional 387 hectares of government land for grazing.
A year later, in 2015, the state government filed a review petition before the High Court and submitted that the available land for allocation to the panchayat was only 17 hectares.
It then submitted a proposal to allocate the remaining land at an alternate site which was nearly seven kilometres away. However, the villagers rejected the proposal stating that cattle couldn’t travel such a long distance.
Consequently, in April 2024, a division bench issued an order directing the Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department to find a solution to this matter.
This week, on 5th July, the Additional Chief Secretary submitted an affidavit apprising the court that the state government has decided to reclaim nearly 108 hectares (266 acres) of ‘gauchar’ land, which was earlier allotted to Adani Ports and SEZ, which prompted the High Court to issue an order to that effect.
However, in a major relief to the Adani group, the apex Court has now stayed the High Court’s 5th July order and has sought a reply from the state government in this matter.
