The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday imposed a rider on the State government that the decision taken by the State Cabinet on April 26 to sell 3,667 acres of land to JSW Ltd., Ballari, at a meagre ₹1.22 lakh per acre, would be subject to further orders to be passed by the court.
The court also made it clear that any action taken based on the April 26 Cabinet decision, the same also would be subject to its further orders.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by K.A. Paul, a resident of Bengaluru.
The Bench passed the order after perusing documents submitted by the government indicating that though the Cabinet on April 26 had taken a decision to sell the land to the company, the said decision was “not confirmed” in the subsequent Cabinet meeting held on May 27.
The court orally termed as “peculiarly worded” a communication by the Additional Chief Secretary of Commerce and Industries Department, who had stated that though approval was accorded the same was “not confirmed”.
The court also permitted the petitioner, who questioned the Cabinet decision to sell the land at meagre price, to amend his petition after getting the copies of the documents submitted to the court by the government. The petitioner had alleged that the government was not giving him any documents under the RTI Act on proposed sale of land.
