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A monthly Review of clippings on Critical Issues & Concerns for NGOs, Activists
and others concerned with Justice & Social Change
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September  2008

Two Verdicts on SEZs

Departing considerably from the meaning generally attributed to `public purpose', the Supreme Court of India recently ruled that, " If the project
taken as a whole is an attempt in the direction of bring in foreign exchange, generating employment opportunities and securing economic benefits to the state and public at large, it will serve public purpose".

In short, what the apex court has said is that private land can be compulsorily acquired and given to industry if this benefits people at large.
Thus the judgment gives a new meaning and interpretation to Section 3(f) of  the Land Acquisition Act which specifically says that `public purpose' does not include acquisition of land for companies.

While this will no doubt clear the road for more forceful and unjust land acquisitions, it will also have an impact on the changes that are being
considered in the revision of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 that has been on the table for quite some time now.

Two weeks after this historic ruling by the court, farmers in more than 22 villages in Maharashtra voted in a first ever state sponsored referendum, against the acquisition of their lands for one of the biggest SEZs in the country.

These two developments, one from the apex court of the country and the other from the people from whom lands are being taken away for so called 'public purpose', will have far reaching impact on the ongoing debate and controversy over land for the Special Economic Zones.

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES Abstract of below articles >>>