SC refuses to entertain Godrej & Boyce's appeal against Bombay HC on bullet train
Feb 24, 2023
New Delhi [India], February 24 : The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company's appeal against the Bombay High Court order that gave a green signal to the bullet train project and refused the company's challenge to the acquisition of its land in Mumbai's Vikhroli area.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that it will not entertain the appeal and refused to intervene with the Bombay HC order.
The Court was hearing the appeal filed by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company challenging the Bombay High Court order.
On February 9, 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd seeking a declaration that the actions taken by the respondents under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 ("Fair Compensation Act").
"Given the numerous illegalities and the failure on the part of the Respondents to acquire the property in the manner prescribed by the Fair Compensation Act, the entire land acquisition proceedings ought to have been declared to have lapsed under Section 25 thereof," the plea stated.
Notably, the company has been at loggerheads with the government of Maharashtra over the acquisition of land owned by the company.
The company also challenged the constitutionality of the first proviso to Section 25 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Act.
The petitioner said that the Bombay HC judgement completely fails to appreciate that the Petitioner cannot be estopped from challenging the acquisition proceedings under the Act, as the respondents had in fact actively suppressed the fact that they had initiated compulsory acquisition proceedings under the Act.
