Vedanta University land acquisition controversy and Honorable Lokpal Justice Patra’s constructive recommendations
April 5th, 2010
Update on April 6 2010: Reader and commentator Debi Prasanna Sarangi sent us the following screen capture that shows Anil Agarwal Foundation (the promoters of Vedanta University) to be a public company. But it does not show when exactly it became a public company. Regardless, an important part of the Honorable Lokpal’s conditions (see the sentence in bold red in the first paragraph below the image) seems to be satisfied now.
Following is an excerpt from an article in Economic Times.
… Acting on a petition filed by Dwaraka Mohan Mishra, a trade union leader, the Lok Pal last week had asked the state government to submit a report within three months after complying with the recommendations given by him in this case. The Lok Pal has also recommended a moratorium on the project till the Anil Agarwal Foundation complies with the legal provisions pointed out by the Ministry of Company Affairs for conversion of its status from private to public company.
Legally the state government could acquire land for the Anil Agarwal Foundation if the Foundation was a public company. This has been the consistent view of the Law Department of Government of Orissa. The then Orissa chief secretary approved the proposal for land acquisition in the instant case on the 12th December 2006. Accordingly lands belonging to private persons as well as to Shri Jagannath Temple were gradually acquired. But no previous sanction of the state government was taken before acquiring the land belonging to Shri Jagannath Temple though previous sanction was mandatory as per Section 16 of Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1954, which has embroiled Anil Agarwal Foundation into fresh trouble, officials said here.
Justice Patra has made it clear that if the Jagannath Temple Act and the Land Acquisition Act have not been complied with, no temple land could be handed over to the Foundation for the proposed University. Besides, he has recommended that the state government should work out a scheme for phase-wise delivery of land required for the university project. He also suggested that the vigilance cell should monitor the progress of the project and see that land is acquired and delivered in a phase-wise manner to the foundation so that it is not misused.
Justice Patra has asked the state government to ensure payment of adequate compensation by the Foundation to those affected by the project.
No matter how important Vedanta University could be or is for Odisha, all applicable laws need to be followed. Thus I agree with the Honorable Lokpal Justice Patra’s recommendations. I also like his constructive approach underlined above.
Following is a report from Sambada that includes a response from the Vedanta University officials on this controversy.
There are various other reports, including by Mr. Prasanna Mishra (whom I respect a lot) and in tathya.in. Mr. Mishra’s report gives a time line and the tathya.in report includes Vedanta University’s clarification. Having gone through all that at this point my thoughts are:
- The Honorable Lokpal probably had the most information; he heard the government officials’ take on the issue and as a retired justice he knows what is legal and what is not and what is important and what is not. So I am supportive of his recommendations.
- However, it seems like (based on the tathya article and the Sambada report) the Honorable Lokpal did not ask Vedanta University for their side of the issue. (I assume that was not a legal requirement.) But it is possible that some of the issues that are raised (such as the status of the Anil Agarwal foundation) are already resolved. (The Sambada and tathya articles suggest that.)
- I am especially thankful to the Honorable Lokpal for his constructive recommendations. Vedanta University is important for Odisha, but so are the people and their sacrifices. So it is important to have Vedanta University in Odisha so as to raise Odisha from the bottom of every parameter and instead make it a knowledge hub of the world and also address the higher education concerns of India; but at the same time it is equally important that the people and their sacrifices do not go to waste and their interests and rights are adequately protected. The Honorable Lokpal’s recommendation, as reported by the Economic Times article, seems to take care of both of the above aspects.
Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),Land Acquisition and Land Use (Why so much land?),Vedanta University, Puri
5 Writeup
1. Udayabhanu Mohanty | April 6th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I am dismayed at the roadblocks coming in the way of the Vedanta university which could be a huge educational multiplier for Orissa. It has the potential of becoming Orissa’s Silicon Valley. It seems there is a jinx on developmental projects here by vested interests who are content in ensuring that we wallow in a sea of mediocrity.
2. Debi Prasanna Sarangi | April 6th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
The is a very good development. But I wonder how could the Hon’ble Lokapal opine that Anil Agarwal Foundation was not a public company. The Ministy of Corporate Affairs shows that it is in fact a public company registered u/s 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. Secondly how come Vedanta was not impleaded as a party to present their evidences.
3. Purna Mishra | April 7th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Our worst trait is we think we are very smart people and it is OK for us to commit corruption, fraud, cheating, and yet someone else does it, we are at their throat. This is a symptom of a sick society.
More than 50,000 acres of land in Bhubaneswar are under illegal occupation. It is illegally occupied by builders, mafia, politicians, government employees, lawyers, business people, prostitutes, illegal alien, temples, masjids, government and by people from every walk of the society. Most of the land donated to Lord Jagannath is under illegal occupation. You will see an illegal construction right next to “Singhadwar”. Yet we keep quiet as we as individual have done our fair share of occupying illegal land. Now enters Vedanta to the scene. Some people do not want it in Orissa for a variety of reasons. Now everyone has become an authority on university, quality of education, number of acres an university should have, number of noble prizes per acre of land etc etc.
Unfortunately while states like Gujarat and Tamil nadu are progressing by intelligent discussions, we are regressing by our own people who could not even manage their own check book and yet talk about the noble prize winners Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has when it is only confined to 157 acres. Ask anything about CMU and why it is in 157 acres they will draw blank.
It reminds me the poem my semi literate mother used to teach me when I was a toddler:
“Aa Aaa na aasu pache
zilla isikoole heada pandite”.
“Guy who does not know the basic alphabets is talking like a head master of a zilla school”.
— Purna
4. Umesh | April 8th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Chitta Babu,
There is a field called ‘Date of incorporation’ which mentions the date as ’12/05/2004′ . Will that be the date you’re asking for?
Regards
Umashankar Das
5. Chitta Baral | April 8th, 2010 at 11:25 am
That was the date the foundation was incorporated. But initially it was a private ltd. At some later point it became a public ltd. Part of the controversy is the date when it became public ltd and if the chief secretary issued the order for land acquisition before or after that date. There is also a high court case based on that.
But even if the date is later than when the chief secretary issued the order, the honorable Lokpal seems to be saying that their should be a moratorium until it becomes public ltd. But it is already a public ltd.
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Based on the Sambada article, the ROC on 22nd Nov 2006 asked for certain conditions to be fulfilled before it would become a public ltd. The Vedanta Univ people (I mean the Anil Agarwal foundation people) claim that it satisfied those conditions on 23rd Nov 2006 and hence it became public ltd. on that day. If that is the case then there is no problem. But it is possible that even though Anil Agarwal foundation may have filed those documents on 23rd Nov 2006, the ROC may have taken some time to go through them and officially change the status to a public ltd. I think the high court will get to decide which date should be counted: 23rd Nov 2006 or the date that the ROC officially changed the status to public ltd. The high court will also decide if all these matter and what would be a proper next step.
ps – The ROC web site shows that indeed lots of documents were filed on 23rd Nov 2006.