SC rejects Navi Mumbai SEZ's petition against state government

The Supreme Court has rejected a petition by Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd seeking to restrain the Maharashtra government from demanding taxes in respect of land acquired for the special economic zone.

The Navi Mumbai SEZ,  promoted by Anand Jain, a close associate of Reliance group chairman Mukesh Ambani, has to complete land acquisition within one year of the approval.

A bench headed by Justice V S Sirpurkar refused to give any relief to the SEZ developers and asked the Bombay high court, before which the matter is pending, to decide Navi Mumbai SEZ's plea within three months. (See: HC kicks Reliance Mumbai SEZ case upstairs to SC)

Navi Mumbai SEZ, which is developing the 4,840-hectare project in association with Cidco, has been asked to pay non-agricultural taxes for land acquired in Thane Belapur Industrial Area, which included Transharbour, Panvel and Thane creek.

The Navi Mumbai SEZ has, meanwhile, asked the government to scrap the condition of maintaining geographical contiguity for the project. If the condition is not fulfilled, the government will not give its approval to companies interested in setting up units in the area.

The board of approval had cleared the multi-product SEZ on the condition that the developer would build the required underpasses and bridges before the units were set up in the zone.