GUJARAT: Division Bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi is likely to hear the petitions on Thursday along with similar pleas submitted in June this year only. This comes a day after four main petitioners “conveyed” to their lawyers about withdrawing the petitions, challenging the acquisition process.
Fresh 40 petitions have been filed even as 4 pleas of farmers from Antroli Village in Surat District were withdrawn recently. The petitioners’ lawyers said that they were told by the four main petitioners led by Pravin Mehta that they were withdrawing the petition. The lawyers said that two of them had also held a press conference in Surat on Sunday.
In their petitions, the 40 farmers have said that since the project extends to more than one state (Gujarat and Maharashtra), the Centre is the “appropriate government” to acquire the land for it. State Government, in its reply, said since the width of the land to be acquired for the project is just 17.5 metres, the resettlement issues are minimal.
