Decide on RIL SEZ, Centre to Maharashtra

Board of Approval clears 28 SEZs.

The commerce ministry has recommended that the Maharashtra government take back the land acquisition notification that it had issued in Raigad for the Maha Mumbai SEZ, a senior central government official said here today.  A state government-sponsored  referendum on the project was held in Raigad yesterday.

“SEZs for which the state government does compulsory acquisition will not be approved by the Board of Approval (BoA). The ministry last year had recommended to the Maharashtra government to take back the land acquisition notification. Because of this notice, land owners of the area cannot sell their land to any one, except the state government. This has led to resentment among farmers,” the official added.

The zone has been given in-principle approval by the BoA, as its developer — Gujarat Positra Port Infrastructure Ltd — is yet to acquire the requisite land. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and close associate Anand Jain have a stake in the SEZ.

The Maharashtra government on Sunday had conducted a referendum, the country’s first on an industrial project, on whether the land owners in Raigad and its adjoining areas wanted the proposed 5,000-hectare SEZ, one of the largest in the country.

Commerce ministry officials maintain that the issue has to be dealt with by the state government. “If the state government wants, it can acquire land for Maha Mumbai, but the BoA will not declare it as an SEZ. Other developers like Bharat Forge and JSW have brought land with the consent of farmers and were formally approved,” the official said.

Compulsory acquisition of land for SEZs was banned by an empowered group of ministers, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in April 2007, in the backdrop of widespread protests against the tax-free industrial enclaves.

“If the developer gets the land, it can come to the BoA for formal approval. There have been instances when companies have withdrawn their applications, when they could not acquire land,” the official said.

Legal experts say that the referendum may have an adverse impact on the developers’ plans for the ambitious SEZ. “Before the notification of any SEZ, if the state government withdraws it approval to the zone, then the SEZ will have to be scrapped,” said Hitender Mehta, head of Gurgaon centre of legal firm Vaish Associates.

Meanwhile, the BoA today formally approved 17 SEZs which have land under possession, as well as granted in-principle approval to 10 zones, which are yet to acquire land.

The formally approved zones include Bharat Forge’s 1,271-hectare multi-product zone at Khed, Maharashtra. Moreover, JSW Bengal Steel’s Rs 15,321-crore SEZ at Midnapore, West Bengal, was also formally approved today.