New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and seven states seeking their response to a PIL seeking return of the lands acquired for special economic zones to the farmers if lands are not utilised for SEZ.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and L. Nageswara issued notice to the states of West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN, Andhra Pradesh and TS, on the writ petition filed by SEZ Farmers Protection Welfa-re Association, representing farmers and agricultural labourers of AP, who are affected by SEZs in AP.
20 per cent of SEZ land in AP unused: Supreme Court
Senior counsel Colin Gonzalves and counsel Sravan Kumar submitted to the court that out of about 45,000 hectares of land acquired by 20 states for SEZs, about 30,000 hectares had not been utilised but these lands are being used by industrialists to obtain loans from banks for other purposes.
The association sought the intervention of this court for providing necessary relief, compensation for keeping the land vacant for a long time and return of the land to tribals, farmers and other weaker sections of the society suffering from the harsh effects of unnecessary, land acquisition for SEZ. The petition noted that more than 77 per cent of the notified SEZ land is concentrated in four states — AP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
About 20 per cent of the total SEZ land remains unutilised in AP; about 39 per cent in Gujarat; 47 per cent in Maharashtra and 53 per cent in Tamil Nadu.
