CG High Court order SAIL's BSP to Pay Full Price for Land or Return to State Government
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The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed the petition of Steel Authority of India Limited's (SAIL's) Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) seeking price relaxations for 921 hectares of forest land located in Kanker district. The decision was announced on September 5, 2019.
The Chhattisgarh High Court ordered SAIL's BSP to pay the full price as per current market rates for taking possession of 921 hectares of forest land.
The high court has given one month's time to public sector steel maker SAIL to decide whether it is taking possession of the land or not and inform the same to the state and central government within the same one month.
If the petitioner decides to take possession of the land then it will have the pay the full price for 921 hectares of forest land as per current rates.
If the petitioner failed to inform its decision to the state government within the given time frame, and does not pay the full price for 921 hectares of forest land as per current rates then the state government can amend the land lease agreement and the petitioner can take only 17 hectares of forest land for mine use.
According to sources, SAIL's BSP had filed a writ petition no. 1405/2018 before Chhattisgarh High Court in 2018 seeking relaxation for taking possession of 921 hectares of forest land located in Kanker district without paying the price as per current land rates.
The state government argued that if the petitioner (SAIL BSP) wants to take possession of the land then it will have to pay the full price for it as per current land rates. Otherwise, it would have to return the entire forest land to the state government.
Citing the decision of the Supreme Court of India in the case of T.N. Godavarman vs Union of India, the high court ordered the petitioner to pay the full price for land as per current rates.
BSP is the flagship steel plant of SAIL.
The order was given by the divisional bench of Chief Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon and Justice Parth Prateem Sahu.
