Vedanta varsity: Odisha Govt to return acquired land to displaced people

Private land previously acquired by the Odisha Government and allotted to Vedanta Group to set up its university in Puri district will be returned to the displaced people soon, Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari said on Wednesday.

According to sources, a large patch of private land measuring a total of around 3,342.53 acres was acquired and subsequently allotted to Anil Agarwal Foundation for the purpose. Since the Supreme Court has recently ‘sustained’ a decision of the Orissa High Court to return private lands, the displaced people will be identified and their lands will be returned.

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To-be returned land will be registered against respective displaced persons only when they refund the compensation amount received by them to the State government. Those displaced people will be able to take possession of their land thereafter.

“The land records (Records of Right) will be updated following the return. Those who had not received any compensation need not refund anything. Government land will also be taken back to the revenue records,” Minister Pujari stated in a presser.

The process of returning land has started at the government level and an official notification in this regard will be published within a day or two, the Minister asserted.

It is pertinent to mention here that the previous government had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vedanta Group in 2006 to set up a university in Puri.

The name of the varsity was consecutively changed three times.

The MoU was signed to hand over both private land in 22 villages along with government land. However, nine landowners had moved the High Court opposing the project.

Orissa High Court also decried the land acquisition process in 2023 and ordered to return the acquired private lands.

Vedanta Group had filed a petition with the apex court seeking the court’s intervention.