Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Friday informed the High Court that it will take back nearly 108 hectares of ‘gauchar’ (grazing) land which was given to an Adani Group entity in 2005 near Mundra port in the state’s Kutch district.
The decision by the government came 13 years after residents of Navinal village there moved the High Court through a Public Interest Litigation against a decision to allot 231 acres of gauchar land to Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.
Though the state revenue department had made the allotment in 2005, the villagers came to know about it in 2010 when APSEZ started fencing the gauchar land it had got.
As per residents, the village was left with just 45 acres of grazing land following allotment of 231 out of 276 acres of such land to APSEZ. They also contended that the move was illegal since the village was already facing shortage of grazing land. Moreover, they claimed the land was a common one and a community resource.
In 2014, the High Court had disposed of the PIL after the state government said in its affidavit that the deputy collector had passed an order granting additional 387 hectares of government land for the purpose of grazing.
However, when it did not happen, a contempt petition was filed in the High Court. In 2015, the state government filed a review petition before the High Court contending that the available land for allocation to the panchayat is only 17 hectares.
The state government then proposed to allocate the remaining land nearly 7 kilometres away, which was not acceptable to villagers who said it was not possible for cattle to travel such a long distance.
In April 2024, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi directed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department to come up with a solution.
On Friday, the ACS, through an affidavit, informed the bench that the state government has decided to take back nearly 108 hectares or 266 acres of gauchar land, which was earlier allocated to APSEZ.
The revenue department informed the court that the state government will “replenish” 129 hectares of land as gauchar and give it back to the village, for which it will use some of its own land and the 108 hectares being taken back from the Adani group firm.
The HC bench expressed satisfaction and directed the state government to implement this resolution.
The HC then adjourned the proceedings to July 7.
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