HC div bench to hear PIL on Sourav steel factory land
Times of India | 2 August 2024
Kolkata: A PIL challenging the handing over of land to former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly for setting up a steel factory at West Midnapore has been fixed for hearing by a Calcutta High Court division bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and Gaurang Kanth, designated to hear chit fund litigations. The matter was referred to the bench on Thursday by a division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
The PIL challenged the state’s decision to hand over the land to Ganguly for a pittance.Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the land — then possessed by Prayag Group — had been seized by state govt for auctioning and compensating micro depositors from the sale proceeds. The state had earlier handed over this 750 acre-land to Prayag Group for setting up a Film City. The Ponzi group had pumped in Rs 2,700 crore for the project from depositors’ money.
The high court had constituted a committee under retired judge SP Talukdar in order to suggest ways to refund deposits of the micro depositors. The petitioner had submitted that the state gave the land to Ganguly when there was no clarity over the status of the seized land.