The High Court has stayed the construction of the Gems and Jewelery Park to be built in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. This order will remain in force till the completion of the hearing. The park is to be constructed on agricultural produce market land. In the petition filed against it, the allotted land order is stated to be against the rules. The case was heard in the Division Bench of the Chief Justice.
Devjibhai Patel, a former MLA from Dharsinwa and former chairman of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Raipur, has filed a PIL in the High Court through advocates Kishore Srivastava, Ashutosh Pandey, Himanshu Sinha, Shashank Thakur and AV Sridhar. In this, the order of 11 June 2020, which was allotted for the establishment of a well-equipped Gems and Jewelery Park in Agricultural Produce Mandi Raipur, was against the law.
The petition said – order issued overnight
- The petition said that the land of the Mandi committee was purchased by the farmers in 1975. Its land is owned by the owner of agricultural produce Mandi Raipur.
- Under the Agricultural Produce Market Act, the land of the committee can be used only for the purpose of mandi. Can not be used in any other purpose.
- On the same day on 11 June 2020, the state government has allocated land for the park against the Agricultural Produce Market Act, directing 5 to 6 agencies.
- It was decided to take the land of the Mandi Committee by meeting the departmental officers at 6 pm under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary.
- Instructions for land acquisition were issued to Mandi Board, CSIDC, Mandi Samiti Raipur, Revenue Secretary, Director Industries and Collector Raipur after 8 pm on the same day.
- Everyone corresponded in the night and the land acquisition order was issued. Also, the land was given possession to the Industry Department at night.
The court considered the matter to be serious, regular hearing will be
there, on behalf of the government, Advocate General Satish Chandra Verma said that the order has been passed according to the law. The court accepted the petition considering the matter as serious. Also, while scheduling the petition for regular hearing, the committee prohibited any construction on the land. The court has passed this order till the final hearing of the case.
