New Delhi: A public interest litigation petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday against acquisition of agricultural and cultivable land from farmers for setting up special economic zones.

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma sought the quashing of all acquisitions that had already taken place with a direction that the land be returned to the farmers. The Government of India has put in place the SEZ policy, which seeks to make India a hub of global exports. It is part of the Government's economic liberalisation programme and entrepreneurs have been offered liberal tax incentives to set up world-class units in these special zones to service international markets.

Assailing this policy, the petitioner said the developers were being offered attractive incentives if the units came up in backward areas. Pursuant to the policy, several leading industrialists, including Tatas and Reliance, had started acquiring thousands of acres of agricultural land, particularly near the metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, for setting up units.

Giving figures across the country on how the acquisition was taking place, the petitioner said conversion of agricultural land for purposes other than cultivation would create chaos and shortage of regular food supplies and vegetables. He alleged that land was being acquired with the help of police and politicians were supporting such acquisitions in the name of industrial development.

He said farmers, labourers and other citizens in the villages were being threatened to give up their land and to stop cultivation. He cited the acquisition of 2,500 acres by the Uttar Pradesh Government to favour the Reliance group.

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