Supreme Court confirms quashing of 6,000 acre land acquisition for Vedanta University in Odisha

The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed a 2010 Orissa High Court ruling that had quashed land acquisition of 6,000 acres towards a proposed university by mining company, Vedanta [Anil Agarwal Foundation Etc vs State of Orissa and ors]..A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari also imposed costs of ₹5 lakh on the appellant, Vedanta's Anil Agarwal Foundation, to be deposited with the Odisha State Legal Services Authority within 6 weeks. In its judgment, the bench noted that two rivers passed through the land in question and, therefore, made some scathing observations against the State for non-application of mind in allowing the land acquisition."The most important aspect, which is required to be considered is the non-application of mind by the State Government on environmental aspects and passing of two rivers from the acquired lands in question. It is not in dispute that from the lands in question two rivers namely ‘Nuanai’ and ‘Nala’ are flowing, which as such were acquired by the State Government. How the maintenance of the rivers etc. can be handed over to the beneficiary company," the judgment stated. Such a move would violate the doctrine of public trust, and affect the residents at large as well as wildlife in the nearby sanctuary, the bench observed."The large-scale construction for the establishment of the proposed university as observed by the High Court will also adversely affect the Wildlife Sanctuary, entire eco system and the ecological environment in the locality. It is a duty of the State to protect the Wildlife Sanctuary and it may affect the entire eco system and the ecological environment in the locality," the Court underlined. Pertinently, the bench held that from the material on record, it appeared that undue benefits and largesse were proposed to be given to the appellants, without examining similar proposals by other trusts."It is not appreciable why the government offered such an undue favour in favour of one trust/ company. Thus, the entire acquisition proceedings and the benefits, which were proposed by the State Government were vitiated by favourism and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.".The verdict came in an appeal by the Anil Agarwal Foundation, which was the beneficiary for whom the land was acquired. The High Court had directed that the possession of the acquired lands be restored to the respective landowners, along with a refund of the amounts paid for the same. The top court noted that the malafide intent of the foundation was revealed by the initial measure of land it had sought. "Initially, 15,000 acres was proposed to be acquired, which is now reduced to 3837 acres. Meaning thereby, the proposal was for exaggerated demand. This was mala fide intention on the part of the appellant company / foundation," the Court stated..The top court had reserved its verdict in the matter on September 21, 2022.Senior Advocates C Aryama Sundaram and Prashanto Sen appeared for the appellants. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appeared for the State of Orissa. Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the respondent-landowners.[Read Judgment]