August 4, 2017 8:26 PM

printer

SC to hear plea against non-operational SEZs in country

The Supreme Court today said it will hold final hearing to a plea seeking return of unused land acquired for Special Economic Zones, SEZ to farmers and a court-monitored CBI probe into the alleged flouting of rules by beneficiary corporates. <br/><br/>A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud asked states, which have not filed their responses till date, to file them within four weeks without fail, otherwise they will not be heard.<br/><br/>The apex court had on January 9 issued notices to the Centre and Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and Punjab on a PIL which alleged that almost 80 per cent of the land acquired for SEZs was lying unused. <br/><br/>The plea, filed by the SEZ Farmers Protection, Welfare Association, alleged that in last five years alone, nearly 4842 hectares of land was acquired for various SEZs, while only 362 hectares were utilised, leaving around 4,480 hectares unused. <br/><br/>It also referred to a CAG report of 2012-13 and alleged that not only have the farmers been deprived of their land, but also consequential benefits such as employment generation and industrialisation of the acquired areas have not taken place.

Most Read
View All arrow-right

No posts found.