TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (9) TMI 1389
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.... "(i) declare the Rule 25(d) ultra vires being arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution; (ii) Declare the Rule 10.1 of the Rules of 2015 ultravires being arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.; (iii) Cancel the allotments already made contrary to the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the matter of granting largessee in the form of industrial plots to the investors; (iv) Cancel the allotments made, if any, in favour of Patanjali Company (respondent No.5) and Baba Ramdev (respondent No.6) (v) Direct the respondents to look to the interests of farmers and not acquire any agricultural land of any farmer in the name of industrial development. (vi) Any other suitable relief that this Hon'ble Court deems fit." 3. This is second round of litigation. Earlier W.P.No.6994 of 2016 (PIL) and W.P.No.7033/2016 (PIL) has been dismissed by the Division Bench of this court on 17.10.2016. Order dated 17.10.2016 reads as under :- "They are heard at length on the question of admission. 2. Petitioner - Dr. Tapan Bhattacharya is a Social Activist and has no personal interest of h....
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.... made against the constitutional norms set up by the Supreme Court in contravention of Article 14 in various decisions showing transparency, fairness, impartiality with opportunity to all; (iv) direct the respondents to look to the interests of farmers and not acquire any agricultural land of any farmer in the name of industrial development. (v) Any other suitable relief that this Hon'ble Court deems fit. 6. According to the petitioner, the Industries Department of State Govt. of Madhya Pradesh in 2012 framed Small Scale and Micro Industries Rules, 2012 under Article 162 of the Constitution of India. Under the Rules of 2012, the maximum limit of land to be allotted was 10 Acres. In 2016, the same has been changed and now 40 acres land could be allotted to an industry. It is also submitted that Rules has been changed just to give benefit to Patanjali Company. 7. It is also averred that on 22nd and 23rd October, 2016, State Government of Madhya Pradesh is holding the Global Investors Summit at Indore. The State Government much prior to the Global Investors Summit allotted land to Patanjali Company, MicroMax, Ajanta Pharma, Motherson, Wander Cem....
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....lagers around are going to suffer from various diseases. As per newspaper cutting dated 26/09/2016(Annexure-P/10), the water of 12 villages in Indore District is not portable because it contains Arsenic, Iron Nitride and others. The allotment of land to the defaulters of the banks is a threat to the life and property of the residents of Madhya pradesh resulting in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. The Investors Summit is a further serious danger to the environment of Indore district which is impermissible and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. 11. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has also pointed out that in Indore 75% crop is destroyed and no insurance or help is made available to the farmers. Due to heavy industries the farmers are migrating and also committing suicides. The State Government inspite of clear direction made by the Apex Court in the case of Swaraj Abhiyan (supra), the persons who are living in drought affected area, the State Government is not providing food grains as required under the NFS Act and also to those persons whose land has been acquired are affected by delayed payment of compensation. The p....
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.... MPTRIFAC and obtain a registration number to avail incentives under this policy. An on-line investor Monitoring and Facilitation System is provided for investor and a time bound clearance mechanism for approvals. Land Bank has been established in the State for industrial purpose by identifying suitable Government / private lands. To increase the growth, the State Government started organizing industrial trade fairs on a regular basis at national and international level through Madhya Pradesh Trade Fair Authority. In order to further enhanced the rate, developed industrial land shall be made available at competitive price to the investors, the State Government created investment corridors. They are allotting the land strictly as per the policy framed by the State Government. The Industrial Promotion Policy, 2014 and action plan has been published in M.P. Gazette on 1.10.2014. The industrial policy is neither arbitrary or based on irrelevant consideration or mala fide or against any statutory provisions and does not call for any interference by this court in exercise of power of judicial review. It satisfies the parameter fixed by the Apex Court from time to time. He furthe....
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....y/arbitrary or based on irrelevant considerations. If the particular policy satisfies these parameters and is held to be valid, then the only question to be examined is as to whether the decision in question is in conformity with the said policy." 14. In the case of Brij Mohanlal V/s. Union of India & Ors., reported in 2012 (6) SCC 502, the Apex Court underlined the principle in the following manner :- "100. Certain tests, whether this Court should or not interfere in the policy decisions of the State, as stated in other judgments, can be summed up as :- (i) If the policy fails to satisfy the test of reasonableness, it would be unconstitutional. (ii) The change in policy must be made fairly and should not give impression that it was so done arbitrarily on any ulterior intention. (iii) The policy can be faulted on grounds of mala fide, unreasonableness, arbitrariness or unfairness etc. (iv) If the policy is found to be against any statute or the Constitution or runs counter to the philosophy behind these provisions. (v) It is dehors the provisions of the Act or legislations. (vi) If the delegate has acted beyond....
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....task entrusted to that authority. It is well settled that a public body invested with statutory powers must take care not to exceed or abuse its power. It must keep within the limits of the authority committed to it. It must act in good faith and it must act reasonably. Courts are not to interfere with economic policy which is the function of experts. It is not the function of the courts to sit in judgment over matters of economic policy and it must necessarily be left to the expert bodies. In such matters even experts can seriously and doubtlessly differ. Courts cannot be expected to decide them without even the aid of experts. 18. Normally, a PIL cannot be entertained solely on the basis of information published in the newspapers. However, if a person is unable to have access in the court for any reason and the right of the life and liberty is involved PIL can be entertained. As per the averments made in both the writ petitions, there is no material that the so call allotment of the land to the industrialist, had been made in violation of any enactment, statutory rule and regulation. Nor there is anything on record to say that the so called grant of land has bee....
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....sal at any given time. As per Industrial Policy, 2014 and Action Plan Cabinet Committee of Investment Promotion (CCIP) has been constituted with the Chief Minister as Chairman and Ministers of Finance, Commercial Taxes and Industries Deptt. as members as part of the Special Package, CCIP can sanction fiscal concessions, tax exemptions, government dues and royalty deferments and any other incentives. The State Level Committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary and shall consist of Principal Secretary Commercial Tax Department, Principal Secretary Commerce, Industry & Employment Department and three Principal Secretary of Government of M.P. 6. As per Rule 10.2 Industrial Promotion Policy, 2014, where the value of the project is over Rs. 25.00 Crores, then the project is considered as mega project. Applications for mega projects are considered by CCIP under Industrial Promotion Policy, 2014 and according to the project, incentives / concession are granted under Clause 4.2.1 of the Industrial Policy 2014, which states thus :- "4.2 Cabinet Committee on Investment Promotion (CCIP) 4.2.1 CCIP has been constituted with Chief Minster as Chairman and Ministers of Fina....
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....osited the directed amount on 21.9.2016, accordingly, the letter of intent was issued in favour of the respondent No.5. The balance amount of Rs. 8,47,799,296/- has been deposited on 17.10.2016. Accordingly, on payment of the entire amount and submission of consent letter, the allotment order dated 19.10.2016 was issued in favour of the respondent No.5. 11. The application for allotment of land was considered by the Cabinet Committee on investment promotion. From the proposal, which showed an investment of more than Rs. 500.00 Crores (Rs.Five Hundred Crores) with members to the farmers and other general public, a decision was taken for allotment of the plot in question to respondent No.5 and in furtherance a lease deed was executed in its favour. 12. The lease deed is for a term of 99 years commencing from 16.11.2016 and ending on 15.11.2035 for the purpose of industrial activity (Fruits & Vegetable Juices / business). As per Clause 4, the lessee has to pay a premium of Rs. 10,00,00,000/- (Rs. Ten Crores) and annual lease rent at the rate of Rs. 20,00,000/- (Rs. Twenty Lac) per annum. A part from the above, he has to pay annual maintenance charges of Rs. 12,95,040/- (Rs.Tw....
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....ndustrial Land and Building Management Rules, 2015 and Industrial Promotion Policy, 2014 and Action Plan. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner has failed to point out any violation of the Industrial Policy. 18. In the case of Akhil Bhartiya Upbhokta Congress V/s. State of M.P. & Ors. (supra), the allotment was initially made in the name of trust, but, later on, the name of the respondent No.5 therein was substituted in place of Memorial Trust. The exercise for reservation of 30 acres land and allotment of 20 acres was not preceded by any advertisement in the newspaper or by any other recognized mode of publicity inviting applications from organizations/institutions like the Memorial Trust or Respondent No.5 for allotment of land and everything was done by the political and non-political functionaries of the State as if they were under a legal obligation to allot land to the Memorial Trust and/or respondent No.5. The advertisements issued by the State functionaries were only for inviting objections against the proposed reservation and/or allotment of land in favour of the Memorial Trust and not for participation in the process of allotment. Considering these facts the Apex C....
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....ed by him. He further more claims himself to be a social activist; however, no documents has been brought on record to reveal the truth of self proclaimed status claimed in petition. The petitioner is merely a political litigator, habitual of making sensations through media on every next date of hearing of the petition, with a sole motive to publicise himself. The petitioner has no social activities and is not engaged in any type of social work. 22. The Apex Court in the case of Parishram Samaj Evam Kalyan Samiti V/s. State of M.P. & Ors. (SLP No. 38305 of 2016), wherein, a cost of Rs. 5,00,000/- and Ravindra Singh V/s. Union of India (SLP No.3974 of 2017), wherein, a cost of Rs. 10,00,000/- has been imposed by the Apex Court for filing frivolous litigation and wasting precious judicial time. 23. In the case in hand, the land has been allotted to the respondent No.5 in accordance with the Rules in force and Industrial Promotion Policy, 2014, there is no violation of any policy or statutory right as the Rules referred by the petitioner are for allotment of commercial land and not for the industrial land. The Apex Court in para 79 and 87 in the case of Balco Employees' U....
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....6. 25. In view of the above discussion, we therefore, of the considered view that the writ petition filed by the petitioner has no merit and is accordingly, dismissed with cost of Rs. 10,000/-. The said cost amount, deposited by the petitioner shall be donated in the Government of Kerala, Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. 26. In the result, the petition is hereby dismissed. ============= Document 1 (10) पà¥à¤°à¥€à¤®à¤¿à¤¯à¤® की गणना हेतॠà¤à¥‚मि के मूलà¥à¤¯ में छूट / रियायत 10.1 पà¥à¤°à¤¬à¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤œà¤¿ से आशय उस राशि से है जो आबंटी दà¥à¤µà¤¾à¤°à¤¾ à¤à¥‚मि का आबंटन पà¥à¤°à¤¾à¤ªà¥à¤¤ करने के à¤à¤µà¤œ में देय है । पà¥....
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