Opposition brings privilege motion against Naveen on Vedanta varsity issue

The heat over the Orissa High Court's verdict on land acquisition process for the Vedanta University Project continued unabated for the fourth consecutive day in the state assembly with the Opposition moving privilege motions against the chief minister Naveen Patnaik accusing him of misleading the house as well as the people of the state on the issue.

Moving a privilege motion on the issue, senior BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra said, the chief minister's statement on the land acquisition process for the proposed Vedanta University Project was contradictory and he merely read out the note prepared by the Advocate General of the state.

Senior Congress leader, Prasad Harichandan, said, “The Chief Minister has misled the house and the people of Orissa on the Vedanta University Project. Even at the time of filing of the petition by the Anil Agarwal Foundation (the promoter of the university project) in the Orissa High Court, its status was that of a private company. Land acquisition process for the proposed university project has been illegal.”

"The verdict of the Orissa High Court is binding on all. Instead of complying with the court order, the chief minister says that the verdict is being scrutinized”, he added.

Undeterred by the chief minister's statement, the Opposition MLAs persisted with their demand for his resignation, creating a din on the floor of the house and forcing the speaker to adjourn the house thrice.

On Thursday, the chief minister refuted all allegations made in connection with land acquisition of the proposed Vedanta University Project in response to an adjournment motion on the issue.

"After receipt of intimation of the Anil Agarwal Foundation about the change of its status from a private to a public limited company, notification was issued under Sub-Section 1 of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in respect of 7184.37 acres of land which was subsequently reduced to 6137.90 acres. Acquisition has since been made in respect of 3495.21 acres of private land while government land to the extent of 509.27 acres has also been leased out to the Foundation”, Patnaik said.

He further clarified that the Anil Agarwal Foundation had confirmed to the state government regarding the change of its status from a private to a public company with effect from November 23, 2006 by a resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting pursuant to the approval of the regional director, Department of Company .