Hearing in Dadri case hits roadblock

The appeals filed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power Ltd (RPL) on acquiring land for its proposed Dadri power project in Uttar Pradesh hit a roadblock in the Supreme Court today, as one of the judges had apparently heard the case when he was in the Allahabad High Court.

The high court had last month quashed a notification issued by the Mulayam Singh government in 2004, invoking emergency provisions in the Land Acquisition Act to acquire land for the 7,480-Mw project.

When the appeals were taken up before a Bench consisting of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan, the chief justice decided to post the case before another Bench on January 18.

The high court cancelled the acquisition of 2,500 acres of farm land for RPL’s Rs 25,000-crore gas-based Dadri power plant. Gas supply to the plant was one of the points of discord in the dispute between the Ambani brothers, which was fought in the Supreme Court in the last three months. Mukesh Ambani-led RIL had argued that RPL cannot claim the gas as the plant had not come up because of the land dispute.

In its appeals, RPL (formerly known as Reliance Energy Generation Ltd) argues that the high court should not have passed the order in its discretionary jurisdiction in petitions moved by the farmers after a delay of four years. The petitions were motivated by business rivals and the litigation has put the vital power project of national importance in jeopardy.

RPL said the original land owners could not have moved the high court as they had accepted the compensation after signing voluntary agreements in 2005. About 90 per cent of the farmers had accepted the prevailing market rates for the land taken over for the mega power project. They had even handed over possession of the land in 2004.

The high court had asked the company to acquire land afresh and seek fresh consent of farmers for taking their land for the project. The court had also allowed the farmers to take back their land, provided they returned the compensation paid by RPL.