Court asks States why lands acquired for SEZs remain barren and abandoned

Invoking the legal victory of West Bengal’s farmers over the mighty state in Singur, West Bengal, their compatriots across the country, stripped of their agricultural lands by their governments in the name of Special Economic Zone (SEZ), found their voice in the Supreme Court on Monday.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar asked the Centre and seven State governments — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab — to explain why vast tracts of fertile agricultural lands, forcefully acquired from farmers and tribal people, lay barren and abandoned, or in the hands of private real estate developers. SEZ Farmers’ Protection Welfare Association, represented by advocate Sravan Kumar, sought the Supreme Court’s direction to the State government to declare that the compulsory acquisition of their lands for SEZs, which pushed them into abject poverty, a violation of their fundamental rights to life, dignity and work.

Issuing notice, the court wanted the governments — at the Centre and the State-level — to respond on why it should not direct a Supreme Court-monitored CBI investigation into the “violations and diversion of loan money obtained by SEZ holders against SEZ rules”.

The farmers said they wanted their lands back from the governments, SEZ holder and private developers. They wanted to grow crops, earn a living from the soil and feed and educate the next generation.

The association said there was a need to conduct a social impact study on the farmers who had lost their land.It sought both civil and criminal action against the SEZ holders for not performing their duty under the contract, resulting in unemployment, wastage of natural resources and impact on food security.