India News | SC Directs Rajasthan to Take Steps to Process Allotment of Land for Setting Up Cement Plant

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Rajasthan government to take necessary steps to process the allotment of land within four weeks in favour of a firm for setting up a cement plant in the Jhunjhunu district.

The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the state challenging the February 2016 order passed by a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court which had directed the state to process the allotment of land in favour of the company for setting up the plant in terms of the letter of allotment of February 2012.

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A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana upheld the judgement of the division bench of the high court while concurring with its findings.

"The appellant - state government is directed to take necessary steps to process the allotment of the subject land in favour of the respondent-company (Ultratech Cement Ltd) within four weeks from today," said the bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and C T Ravikumar.

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"The respondent–company shall file a fresh undertaking with the state government, within the same timeline, as was filed by it before the high court, for initiating time-bound activities for the benefit of the surrounding villages, as compensatory measures for the allocation of the subject land," it said.

The division bench of the high court had set aside the October 2012 order passed by its single judge dismissing a writ petition preferred by the company.

The apex court noted that for executing the project of cement manufacturing, the company had applied to the state in 2000-2001 for a grant of adjoining mining leases for mineral limestone (cement grade) in the Jhunjhunu district.

Later, the District Collector of Jhunjhunu issued an approval letter in February 2012 for the allocation of government land falling under the mining lease area to the company for setting up a cement plant subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions stipulated therein.

The top court noted that in view of a condition contained in the letter, which called upon the firm to produce NOC/orders for allocation of 'Johad' (water reservoir) land from the high court, the company approached the high court.

Later, the state passed an order in January 2016 holding that the subject land, having been recorded in the revenue record as 'Johad', no allotment could be made in favour of the company.

In the impugned judgement, the division bench of the high court had directed the state to allot the subject land in question to the company and take consequential steps in the matter.

The apex court noted in its verdict that the high court has specifically recorded in the impugned judgement that counsel for the state did not dispute the fact before the court that though the subject land in question was classified as 'Johad', it neither fell within any catchment area nor did water ever collect there and there was no natural water reservoir on that land.

"Here, the respondent company has admittedly received environmental clearances and in spite of the same, its project has not taken off due to various hurdles created by the appellant-state government. Clearly, the present case is not one of breach of any norms for the imposition of penalty on the respondent-company," the bench said while dismissing the appeal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)