Supreme Court rules against land acquisition for Vedanta Group's proposed university

13 Apr 2023 , 09:29 AM

The Supreme Court has overturned the acquisition of 8,000 acres of land from around 6,000 farmers for a proposed university in Puri District by Vedanta Group. 

The court has criticized the Odisha Government for favoritism towards the company, calling the exercise ‘vitiated by favoritism.’ 

The acquisition was not only in violation of the law, but also against environmental laws as any construction on the land would irreversibly damage the ecosystem, the court said. 

The bench, led by Justices M R Shah and Krishna Murari, highlighted undue benefits proposed and offered to the beneficiary company. 

The court rejected the appeal filed by the Anil Agarwal Foundation challenging the High Court verdict for scrapping the acquisition. 

The court underlined that the two rivers Nuanai and Nala flow through the acquired land, and therefore, the control of such rivers would be with the private company, which violates the doctrine of public trust. 

The bench commented that the acquisition was in ‘utter disregard’ for the law, and the High Court was right in scrapping it as the Odisha Government favored the private company, which subsequently converted into a public company to gain control of the land. 

The Supreme Court has also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the Anil Agarwal Foundation.

At around 9.27 AM, Vedanta was trading 0.83% higher at Rs 277.90, against the previous close of Rs 275.60 on NSE.

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