SC bench recuses from hearing Vedanta case

In a surprise development, a bench of the Supreme Court recused itself today from hearing a set of appeals on the quashing of the Orissa government notification to acquire land for a university project of the Vedanta group.

The bench of judges R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik gave no reason for doing so. The chief justice would now have to refer the issue to a new bench.

There were four appeals, one from the government of Orissa and three from the Anil Agarwal Foundation. The appeals were against the Orissa high court’s quashing of the acquisition notification for setting up the proposed Vedanta University by the Foundation.

The HC gave its verdict on November 16 last year on a batch of writ petitions, including two public interest petitions, alleging several breaches of the Land Acquisition Act. The court asked the Foundation to return the land to the original owners, while striking down the acquisition on 17 grounds.

The high court decided the Foundation was a private company, not a public company, in terms of the Companies Act. Therefore, the takeover was not permissible according to the provisions of the acquisition law. One of the questions involved is whether it is a public purpose when a private company is the beneficiary. The government argues the Foundation was a public company since 2006.