Madhya Pradesh HC dismisses PIL against land allotment to Ramdev's Patanjali

Indore, Aug 27: The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking cancellation of allotment of land by the state government to Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda.

The 40-acre plot of land in the Pithampur industrial area of Dhar district was allotted to the company at Rs 25 lakh per acre in September 2016 and the firm had proposed to invest Rs 500 crore to set up a food processing unit there.

A bench of Justices P K Jaiswal and Sunil Kumar today rejected the PIL, filed by local social worker Tapan Bhattacharya, and fined him Rs 10,000 for submitting a baseless petition. The court also ordered that the fine, after realisation, should be deposited in the relief fund for flood-hit Kerala.

In his PIL, Bhattacharya had alleged that the land was given at cheap rates to provide illegal benefits to Patanjali. The PIL also claimed that the state's industrial policy, rules and regulations were not followed.

The state government had argued that the land was allotted by the state Cabinet in accordance with rules.

PTI