Bullet train land acquisition: Guj HC seeks Centre's reply

The Gujarat Hight Court today directed the Centre to file its reply with regard to the Presidential assent given to an amendment made by the Gujarat government to the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi was hearing petitions by five farmers from Surat in south Gujarat who may lose their land to the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor project.

The amendment to the principal Land Acquisition Act by the Gujarat government in 2016 has been opposed by the petitioners since it lays down that a social impact assessment of affected persons is not necessary for a project of public interest.

The HC direction came after the petitioners' lawyer, Anand Yagnik, told court that the Union government had not yet filed its response regarding the "application of mind by the President before assenting to the Gujarat Amendment of the Act of 2013".

Yagnik had told the court that if the President was made aware about every aspect of the amendment, he may have not given his assent.

He had sought to put on record all the communication made by the Centre with the President regarding the Gujarat Amendment to cross check whether the President was made aware of all the aspects.

During today's argument, Yagnik told the court that no reply has been filed by the Centre in this regard.

On this, the bench directed the Centre to file its reply and fixed August 28 as the next date of hearing.

Yagnik had earlier argued that the amendment gives powers to the government to exempt any project from social impact assessment and consent in the name of public interest.

The petitioners have contended that social impact assessment is the "very soul of the Act of 2013" and completely doing away with it "is destroying the very nucleus of the Principal Act and hence completely untenable".