N-plant row in legal hurdle

Ratnagiri row: Lawyers say villagers can haggle over compensation if govt proves project is for public good, reports Snehal Rebello.

Villagers protesting against the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant at Ratnagiri will have to part with their land.

HT Image

According to lawyers, the project-affected villagers cannot move court to challenge the land acquisition process. The only aspect they can challenge is the quantum of compensation doled out by the state government.

“The acquisition process can be challenged only on technicalities. But in this case, it will not happen since the government machinery is well-oiled,” said a Bombay High Court lawyer, who did not wish to be named.

On December 21, HT reported that the state government had acquired three villages of Niweli, Karel and Mithgawane comprising 238 hectares under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for the Indo-French Nuclear plant. This land will be used to build utilities for staff employed at the power plant.

The villagers had refused to accept land acquisition notices and compensation cheques.

In every land acquisition process, there is a reference for higher compensation,” said advocate Mukesh Vashi. “Once the government shows that the project is for public good, then only the compensation amount can be challenged,” said Vashi.

Though the villagers claim that they are not open to negotiations, they said that the compensation calculated at Rs 3 per square feet is a pittance.

Of the 938 hectares that will house six imported light water reactors from France, 94 per cent of the land is non-agricultural and privately owned. While officials from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited have said that they are open to dialogue, villagers do not want to give their land.

“The basic rate of the non-agricultural land was enhanced 20 times by the state government in September 2007. Prior to that, the land in the particular area of the project site was Rs 1500 per hectare,” said C B Jain, project director, NPCIL. “We are open to negotiations with the land owners.”

Till now, NPCIL has given the state government Rs 16 crore as compensation amount for 938 hectares.

The state-run company has got permission to build two reactors in the first phase.

In September 2008, France became the first country to sign an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with India after the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted international restrictions.