Due to the claim made by the villagers (the plot is cultivable), the Rajasthan High Court has canceled the allotment of 581.56 acres to Adani Renewable Energy Park, Rajasthan.

Adani Renewables got the rejection from Rajasthan High Court for the disputed 581.56 acres of land near Pokhran in Jaisalmer. This land was to be used to develop the solar park. The reason behind the cancellation of the allotment is that the villagers claiming the plot to be cultivable.

Adani Renewable Energy Park has two plots of land in Jaisalmer (near Pokhran), whose total measurements are 13,000 bighas (8,125 acres).

A petition has been filed for the 6,115 bighas (3,821 acres) from the total of land, as this part comes under the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) Conservation Area.

Because of this, the division bench of the Rajasthan High Court has decided to examine the land parcel and has also ordered the state government to survey the land parcel allotted to Adani and Essel Surya Urja Company in all the three villages (Naden, Ugras, and Nagnechinagar).

Along with this, the court has also ordered that if any part of these lands comes under public utilities, then its allotment should be canceled.

The court further said that the state government will also review the land adjacent to the allotted land which is present around the plots of land belonging to the petitioners, other khatedar tenants (a tenant recognized under Rajasthan Tenancy, 1955), and public utilities. So that in the future no claim of infringement of rights can be claimed on the land allotted to Essel and Adani.

The court ordered that the land for the approach road to the lands of khatedar tenants and the dhani of the inhabitants of the village shall be specifically set apart and entered in the revenue record for the said purpose.

The state government has got six weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order by the court to complete the entire operation.

Case Background:

In 2018, the Rajasthan government had allotted land to Adani Renewable Energy for the solar park. A part of which land was in Nedan village located near Pokhran. For this land, Adani Group had paid around ₹135 million (~$1.77 million). But the farmers of Nedan village filed a petition for this land to be cultivable. 

According to some reports, this land was marked for agricultural work. But on May 30, 2017, through an executive order, the land was declared barren. Along with this, the state government got an order that the land should be handed over to Adani Rainwables for developing the solar park.

This allotment was strongly opposed by the farmers because according to the rules, the land reserved for cultivation cannot be allotted for any other purpose, and also the solar park cannot be planted on such land which is cultivable. The farmers also claimed that this entire land (3,821 acres) was never barren nor is it so at present. Because farmers have been cultivating this land for many years.

At the same time, the petitioners also objected by saying that the area of ​​land which is near Rasla village is reserved for the conservation of endangered species. This solar park can have a fatal impact on the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard.

In April 2021, the Supreme Court of India ordered the appropriate authorities to install diverters for possible space in the Great Indian Bustard’s habitats as well as convert overhead cables into underground power lines. The timeline to complete the entire process is one year from the date of the order by the Supreme Court. During this one-year time interval, the diverter should be hung from the existing power lines.

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