SC Stays Gujarat HC Order on Reclaiming Grazing Land Allocated to Adani Group

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Gujarat High Court order directing the state government to resume the process of reclaiming nearly 108 hectares of grazing land allocated to an Adani Group entity in 2005 near the Mundra port.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan considered the appeal of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, which sought a stay on the impugned order in the interest of justice.

“Issue notice. Stay of impugned order,” the bench stated.

On July 5, the state government informed the high court that it would reclaim nearly 108 hectares of ‘gauchar’ (grazing) land previously given to the Adani Group entity in 2005. The high court had directed, “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 law,” and scheduled the matter for July 26.

Residents of Navinal village in Kutch district had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the high court challenging the decision to allocate 231 acres of ‘gauchar’ land to the Adani firm.

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