HC seeks full file on 3,000-bigha land allotment to cement firm in Dima Hasao

Guwahati, Sept 2: The counsel for the NC Hills Autonomous Council on Monday produced a few papers related to the allotment of 3,000 bighas of land to a cement factory in Dima Hasao, but the Gauhati High Court directed it to produce the entire file which contained the decision to allot the "huge chunk" of the land in a Sixth Schedule area to the private firm.

"The counsel for the NCHAC produced some pa-pers. The objective of the last order was not to look at a few papers, but to look at the file which contains the decision to allot the huge chunk of land," a bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi said, directing the council to product the file at the next hearing.

During Monday's hearing, the State's advocate general Devajit Saikia told the court that the State government had constituted a three-member committee to investigate the matter and it has submitted a report.

Based on the report, Saikia wanted to file an affidavit "to clarify if allotment of 3,000 bighas was justified or not".

When Justice Medhi insisted that the court had not directed any such inquiry, Saikia said that the last court order had "created an uproar, and therefore the government wanted to clarify the matter".

Saikia said that the "correct facts" were not placed before the court and a "wrong message has gone".

Justice Medhi maintained that the court was perturbed at the allotment of such a huge chunk of land in a Sixth Schedule district to a private company and so wanted to see the records to know how the policy decision was taken.

The NCHAC counsel further informed the court that in the year 1998, 6,000 bighas of land was allotted to the industry department. As the land was not utilized, the council's executive committee decided to curtail the land and allot 3,000 bighas to the company.

But Justice Medhi questioned: "Where is the environment clearance from the Government of India? How do you start a cement factory? How do you care about a Sixth Schedule land? What is Umrangsu? It is an ecological hotspot. How do you have a cement factory there of 3,000 bighas? Show us the records. The AG says everything is proper. If everything is proper we have nothing to say. We will strictly go by the book "

When the advocate general said that the land was purchased by the cement company at Rs 2 lakh per bigha, Justice Medhi wondered, "Then where does the Ceiling Act go?"

The court directed the government counsel to file an affidavit.

"We have to balance... whether we are taking care of the tribal people. You (government) will have to ad-dress the Sixth Schedule issue. We are not against having an industry in that area. We are slightly curious when an area of 3,000 bighas is given to a private company," the court said, and also wanted to know the quantum of land allotted to other cement companies and PSUs in the State for a comparison.