The High Court heard a petition of five farmers who were the residents of Hasdeo Aranya. It was against alleged illegal land acquisition in Parsa coal block. The farmers received the petition on the 13th of December.
Hearing this, Chhattisgarh high court issued a stay order in the process. It also ordered the Central government to file a reply by the 10th of January.
This was regarding the allegations. It said that till then, the court would take no ‘coercive action’ against the petitioners. A bench of judges passed the order on Monday. The jury included chief justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice NK Chandravanshi.
The 5 farmers filed the petition in October 2020. They challenged the land acquisition by the central government. “Writ Petition is being filed against the unlawful land acquisition of the Parsa Coal Block.
It is also raising certain important legal questions with regard to the Land Acquisition for Coal Mines post-enactment of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Resettlement Act 2013.” the petition stated.
Sudeip Shrivastava is the counsel of the petitioners. He said that the HC has reordered the statement made by the counsel. It has also ordered that no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners till the next hearing. This next hearing will be on January 10.
“The court has sought a reply from the Central government in the petition. This was because the Centre did the land acquisition in favor of a public sector unit (PSU) of Rajasthan.
That, in turn, has entered into a mining and development (MDO) agreement with a private company,” said Shrivastava.
The petition stated, “It is submitted that instant matter relates to the Land Acquisition proceedings for the Parsa Coal Block. The Ministry of Coal allotted this to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL) by the Ministry of Coal.
Some of the villages whom the court will displace completely while the land acquisition started affecting six villages. The people responsible for the land acquisition for the said coal block did it in complete violation of the scheme, the Coal Bearing (Acquisition and Development) Act 1957.”
The petition further alleged that some of the villagers also objected that the Central government did not follow PESA Act 1996 before issuance of Section 4(1) notification.
Furthermore, the Central government did not follow any provisions of the Forest Rights Act 2006. Even the Collector of the concerned district did not follow them before issuance of Section 4(1) notification.
