Bombay High Court has refused to impose stay on the land acquisition proceedings by the Maharashtra government for the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
This comes as a huge setback to Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing company limited. The company has objected to the state government exempting the bullet train project from the social impact assessment, as per a report published in the Free Press Journal.
Under the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013, as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency, any project claimed to have public interest shall have a social impact assessment.
As per the assessment, the concerned authorities make sure if the project serves a public purpose along with the estimation of affected and displaced families which will be affected by the proposed acquisition. The assessment also examines if the land is workable for the project or not.
The company has also challenged a notification issued by Union government delegating powers to the state government to execute land acquisition for such projects.
Along with this, the company has also section 10 and 11 of the land acquisition act, 2013, which grants special power to the state and mandates publishing of a preliminary notification related to the acquisition.
Earlier in December 2019, the bench had heard the petition. During the arguments, appearing for Godrej, Navroz Seervai stated that the government had no power to issue such notification while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh countered the arguments while appearing for the National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC).
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In the end, the Bombay HC refused to grant any interim relief sought by the Godrej company.
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