Supreme Court May Monitor Land Deal of Proposed Private University in Odisha

After the filing of several cases pertaining to the proposed multi-disciplinary university which is supposed to be set-up by UK-based Vedanta group in the sacred city of Puri in Odisha, the Supreme Court on Monday, 28th November 2016 said that it may observe the land deal for the same. Spreading over 6,000 acres of land on Puri-Konark marine drive overlooking the Bay of Bengal, the SC wants to ensure that the piece of land is not used for any kind of commercial purposes, under any circumstances.

Also Read: A New University - Rakhsa Shakti Vishwavidyalaya Inaugurated in Jharkhand

The court said that the land should not be used for any commercial purpose other than education. The bench of the court comprised of -

• Justice D Y Chandrachud
• Chief Justice T S Thakur

The proposed university is being promoted by the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the promoter of the UK- based Vedanta group, and Odisha Government. The foundation had appealed against the decision of the High Court of Odisha. The Odisha High Court while mentioning various reasons had held the land acquisition procedures as illegal. It had directed Vedanta to return the land to its rightful owners. It had also contended that the Land Acquisition Company Rules, 1963, were not followed properly by the Odisha Government.

Also Read: Odisha Govt. Provides Land to IIT Bhubaneshwar for Coastal Observatory

While mentioning on a batch of appeals and cross-appeals in the case, the bench said that they would accord final hearing in the second week of February 2017. The Supreme court, in 2011, had asked the Odisha government to maintain status quo a regular basis in context to the acquisition of land for setting up of the proposed university.

The proposed was supposed to admit one lakh students in 95 different disciplines.