HC asks govt to produce papers of Nano land acquisition

The Gujarat High Court today directed the state government to produce documents of acquisition of land in Sanand, alloted to Tatas for the Nano car project.

The court has asked the government to produce the documents of land acquired by them under the Land Acquisition Act by December 10. Further hearing is also scheduled on the same day.

The oral order by the division bench of Justices M S Shah and H N Devani, was issued while hearing a petition filed by one Jeetsinh Waghela and 23 families of farmers from Khoda village, demanding adequate compensation for the land which belongs to their forefathers.

In their petition, the farmers have contended that the 865.12 acres of land in Khoda village was never acquired by the government in 1911, as claimed by the officials of the Ahmedabad Collectorate.

The petition said that the 865.12 acres of land was given on lease of 100 years to the then British government in 1900 for building of Northcot farm for animals after a severe drought.

They have further contended that since the government has no documents to prove that the land was acquired, the land belonged to the Khoda village and hence farmers need to be adequately compensated according to the market price of the land.