New Delhi : In a major setback to the proposed Vedanta University in Puri, the Supreme Court today upheld the verdict of Orissa High Court which had ruled the land acquisition in the pilgrim town illegal and void.
In its judgment, the apex court said 10,000 acres of land acquired by Anil Agarwal Foundation for the proposed university is illegal. The top court also directed the State government and Anil Agarwal Foundation to return the acquired land to the farmers.
While reprimanding the State government for such illegal land acquisution process, the top court also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Anil Agarwal foundation.
In 2010, the Orissa High court had also termed the land acquisition by the State government for the proposed university as illegal.
The proposed Vedanta University, India’s answer to Stanford and Harvard, suffered a blow after Orissa High Court ruled the land acquisition for the project in Orissa’s Puri town as illegal and void.
The Rs 150 billion multi-disciplinary university was being built by Anil Agarwal Foundation. It was proposed to spread over an area of 6892 acres on Puri-Konark marine drive overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
The High Court had also directed Vedanta company to return to the original owners the land awarded to them.
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