Reliance asks Haryana to declare
agri land as urban
Reliance Haryana SEZ Limited (RHSL),
the special purpose vehicle (SPV) incorporated to implement the now-shelved
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts, has asked
the Haryana government to declare as "urban" chunks of agricultural
land in Gurgaon district which the company had bought from farmers.
Reliance's
request is being viewed as an effort to seek exemption from the land ceiling
provisions in Haryana. As per the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, the
permissible area allowed for an individual to possess ranged from 18.12 to 54.5
acres.
However,
an amendment was made in the Act in October 2011, which exempted land acquired
for non-agricultural purposes and falling within an "urban area" as
defined in the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act from the
ceiling law.
The
RHSL, a joint venture of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Ventures Limited and Haryana
State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), had
purchased 1,200 acres of agricultural land in Gurgaon district and 7,000 acres
in Jhajjar district for setting up two SEZs.
The
projects, however, stand shelved as Reliance got the structure of the SEZ
project in Jhajjar changed (a model economic township will now come up
instead). The death blow to the SEZ project came in January when the state
government asked Reliance Industries to return 1,383 acres transferred by
HSIIDC to RHSL in 2006 as the SEZ project could not fructify for the past six
years. The in-principle approval for extension of the multi-product SEZ at
Gurgaon, given by the department of commerce, government of India, also expired
on March 31.
The
SEZ prospects at Gurgaon looked grim from the beginning, with the in-principle
approval granted by the union government for the SEZ expiring in March 2009
after two extensions.
While
the RHSL has already got the agricultural land procured for the SEZ project in
Jhajjar declared an urban area through a February 14, 2011, notification issued
by the town and country planning department, it has now stepped up efforts to
get the chunks of purchased land in Gurgaon district declared urban. Besides
exemption from the ceiling law, getting this land declared urban will also help
Reliance get industrial licences for it.
The
development also assumed significance since the draft development plan of
Farukhnagar in Gurgaon district was approved on Tuesday by a state level
committee of the town and country planning department under the chairmanship of
chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. A large chunk of land being sought to be
declared urban by Reliance is in the Farukhnagar controlled area.
Principal
secretary, town and country planning, Sudeep Singh Dhillon, when asked about
the request from Reliance, said: "They can file an objection once the
draft development plan of Farukhnagar is notified. After that, we can examine
whether they can be accommodated or not. The power to accept or reject the
objection rests with the state government."
Reliance
official Amit Vij told HT on Thursday that the request for declaring
agricultural land as urban was a mere formality. "As per our agreement
with HSIIDC which is a joint venture partner, we can also undertake industrial
activity on this land,'' he said.
Asked
whether Reliance after aggregating the land was now turning into a real estate
developer, Vij denied it.
The
RHSL, in a communication to the Town and Country Planning department, has said
that while most of the land (in Jhajjar) is now part of urban areas as well as
the controlled area, it is requested that land falling in Farukhnagar and
Gurgaon controlled areas, presently outside the urban areas, be declared urban.
"This
would facilitate our ability to undertake further procurement of land so as to
enable development for industrial/institutional purposes," the RHSL wrote.
The
company has specifically requested that chunks of land falling in Mubarakpur,
Iqbalpur, Sultanpur, Budhera, Jhajrola, Makdola and Kaliwas villages be
declared urban.
"When
we look at combined maps of the Gurgaon Manesar development plan-2021 and 2025,
Farukhnagar controlled area and Jhajjar district, we find an area consisting of
parts of these villages situated within these three areas which is not declared
urban presently. The RHSL has purchased land for the development of SEZ/Model
Economic Township projects and some of the area is situated in between these
zones," it said.
Reliance
has also requested that portions of land in these villages, which are part of
the Farukhnagar draft development plan, be earmarked as
industrial/institutional zone.
"The
same may be reflected in the final development plan of the Farukhnagar
controlled area. Also, the area meant for the development of the project in
Jhajjar and Gurgaon be not marked amenities zone as reflected in the draft
development plan of KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal)," the communication said.
