New Delhi. ‘thank God! Gujarat High Court intervened. This is a scam,’ The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the appeal of Surat’s Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) against the High Court order to auction a five-star hotel built on land meant for a market yard. Was done. The bench refused to interfere with the Gujarat High Court’s March 27 order in which it had asked the state government to take possession of the five-star hotel.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said how can the Agricultural Produce Market Committee construct a five-star hotel on land meant for the construction of a market yard for agricultural products? Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for APMC, alleged that the High Court has deprived it of its own land and properties.
The bench said that the Act (on APMC) should tell us that you have the right to build shopping malls and five-star hotels on the land. You should have returned the land back to the state. The High Court had also ordered public auction of the property and directed officials to deposit the amount in the state’s APMC fund. CJI said thank God! High Court intervened! This is a scam… the government (officials) may be a willing partner in this.
However, the bench allowed Hotel Shilpis India Pvt Ltd to approach the High Court for refund of the money invested in the hotel project. The High Court had said that the construction of a five star hotel at a cost of Rs 98 crore from the ‘Market Committee Fund’, and that too, leasing it out to a private person, cannot in any way be said to be connected with or accessory to the same. The main objective and objective of the establishment of the Market Committee under Section 11 of the Market Act 1963 is linked to.
The High Court had said that the stand of the State is that the lease rental income to the private party to which the building has been constructed as a five-star hotel, shall be deposited in the Market Committee Fund and shall be used only for the purposes of Will go. specified under law and thus, giving it the garb of a public purpose is merely a sham, an attempt to legalize the illegal functioning of the Market Committee.
It had ordered closure of all activities in the mall which were not for the welfare of farmers. This matter reached the High Court through a public interest litigation in 2014. It was alleged that Surat APMC was constructing a mall and a five-star hotel on 20,000 square meters of land and shifting the market yard to another place.
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Tags: CJI, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 23, 2024, 20:18 IST