PIL filed in SC against acquiring of agriculture land for SEZs

New Delhi, Sep 29 (UNI) A public interest litigation (PIL) was today filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the acquisition of agricultural and fertile land by various state governments for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with big Industrial offices like Reliance and Tata.

Petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma, who is also an advocate, has sought a CBI inquiry into the ''scandal'' involving big industrial houses and top politicians in the country. He also gave graphic details of illegal acquisition of cultivable land near Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

According to the petitioner, 2500 acres of agricultural land had been acquired for the Reliance Industry in Gurgoan district in Haryana in November 2005. In the same year in December, the Haryana Government had acquired another 450000 acres of fertile land in Gurgoan and other districts.

In January 2006, 150 sq Km agricutural land had been acquired in suburban Mumbai for the Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group with full support of politicians for setting up the SEZs.

The Anil Ambani's Reliance group has been given 2500 acres of agricultural land in Dadri village in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh while the project only required 700 acres, he alleged.

However on June 12, the West Bengal Government started acquiring 1000 acres of fertile land at Singur in Hooghly district for the Tata Group.

The petition alleged that the police had tried to dispossess farmers of Bajhera Khurd and humiliated and assaulted their children and women on July 8.

On September 16, the West Bengal Government acquired land documents of 1600 farmers in a bid to grab more land for the Tata group.

The petitioner has also prayed for an interim stay against the allotment of land to the big Industrial houses by the state government concerned and also sought to issue directions to return the land to its previous owners.

The respondents include the Centre and the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

UNI AKS/SC HS AT BD1810