Sabarimala Greenfield Airport: Kerala High Court Sets Aside Land Acquisition Steps For Non-Compliance With 2013 Act Safeguards

The Kerala High Court recently set aside the government's preliminary notification and other steps taken for acquiring 2570 acres of the land for the Sabarimala Greenfield Project.Justice C. Jayachandran allowed the writ petition preferred by the Ayana Charitable Trust and its Managing Trustee challenging the notification as well as the Social Impact Assessment report, Expert Group Appraisal report and the other government orders to acquire their land and that belonging to other persons.The petitioners claimed that there was a colourable exercise of power by the government with respect to the acquisition and that the whole acquisition proceeding was initiated with an aim to take over the Cheruvally Estate, the petitioners' 2263 acres of land.They also submitted that the government proposed to acquire more than the bare minimum area of land required for the project. Further, it was argued that possible alternative sites for the project and its feasibility were not properly considered. Thus, they contended that the acquisition violated the mandates under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.While deciding the case, the Court examined the preamble to and the provisions of the 2013 Act, including Sections 2 to 8, 11, and 15. It found that the one of the aims of the Act is to ensure acquisition in a transparent and informed manner, causing minimum disturbance to land owners.According to the Act, when the government intends to acquire a land, it has to undertake a mandatory social impact assessment study (SIA study).The authority conducting the SIA study has to prepare a Social Impact Management Plan and also conduct a public hearing with the affected persons. Following this, the SIA report has to be published. A multidisciplinary Expert Group has to then evaluate the report and give its recommendation recording the grounds for the same, weighing the social costs and the potential benefits of the project.Next, the government will examine the proposals for land acquisition and the SIA report. It would then recommend the minimum area of land required for the project. Upon completion of recommendation, the government has to issue the preliminary notification for acquisition.After laying out the scheme of the Act, the Court considered whether the absolute bare minimum extend was proposed to be acquired in the present case. For that, it considered the land ideally required for an international airport.In this connection, the Court examined a document produced by the State, which was a communication issued by the Airports Authority of India to the Chief Secretary of Kerala with the subject 'Standardization of land requirement for various categories of Operation for Green Field Airport, New Civil Enclave and development of existing airports'.It was observed that going by the above document, the minimum land required in the ideal scenario is 1200 acres. However, it also remarked that there is no mandate that there cannot be any acquisition more than afore minimum but when further extent of land is sought to be acquired, the purpose for the same needs to be explained.Examining the SIA report, the Court found that absolutely no reason was assigned by the SIA study team as to why double the aforementioned area of land was proposed to be acquired. Though it was stated by the State that there would be a longer runway, that extent was fixed considering the future growth, and that the airport is sought to provide smoother, faster and convenient travel for Sabarimala pilgrimage, the Court felt that this was not sufficient.It observed:“First of all, there is no indication, whatsoever, in the S.I.A. study report as to what future growth and expansion are contemplated. What is the extent required for the airport with the infrastructure, now envisaged? What growth and expansion are contemplated in future? What is the additional extent required for such future growth and expansion? The answers to these important questions are far to seek. The same is not forthcoming in S.I.A. report, or for that matter, in any other record. The mandate flowing from Section (4)(4)(d), followed by Section 7(5)(b) and reiterated in Section 8(1)(c) of the 2013 Act is to limit the acquisition to the absolute bare-minimum required.…there is no reason, whatsoever, stated to arrive at a conclusion that the proposed acquisition is the absolute bare-minimum extent required for the project.” Next, the Court made a comparison of the extent of land for the airports in Kerala. It noted that except for the Kannur International airport, which spans 2300 acres, the others are comparatively much smaller.“Barring the Kannur International Airport, the extent of all the three other International Airports in Kerala are between 373 to 1300 acres. In such a scenario, why an extent of 2570 acres is required for the Sabarimala Greenfield Airport - which is contemplated as the fifth airport of Kerala -...

Sabarimala Greenfield Airport: Kerala High Court Sets Aside Land Acquisition Steps For Non-Compliance With 2013 Act Safeguards

K. Salma Jennath

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