Other States - Jharkand   

Bokaro Steel Plant awarded ownership of acquired land

Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has ruled that the ownership of 44,000 acres of land, acquired by the Bokaro Steel Plant during the days of undivided Bihar, rests with the public sector company for which it should compensate the displaced people along with interest.

A Division Bench of MY Eqbal and DGR Pattanai’s ruling on Thursday on a bunch of petitions paved the way for grant of compensation along with interest to all the losers of land that had been acquired by the BSP in 1964.

As regards the payment of compensation, the SAIL had already deposited a cheque for Rs.70 crore on an earlier date.

According to BSP counsel Rajiv Ranjan, the BSP had acquired the land in 1964 for setting up its steel plant.

Unhappy with the compensation package then, the people losing land moved applications before the land acquisition judge for reference and the LAJ awarded a raise in compensation in 1990s .

The state of undivided Bihar, however, challenged the LAJ judgement and filed several applications.

When the matter reached the High Court, it constituted a five-member committee to report in the matter.

After several rounds of parleys between the parties, the BSP agreed to pay compensation on the enhanced rate of Rs. 8000 per acre of land and agreed to pay Rs.70 crore as compensation on the condition that the deed of the 44,000 land acquired by it should be in its name.- PTI

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Bokaro Steel Plant awarded ownership of acquired land

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