The Anil Agarwal Foundation and the Orissa government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Orissa High Court?s decision to quash land acquisition for its Rs 15,000-crore Vedanta University Project in Puri.
Terming the state government?s notifications made to acquire and award the land in favour of the Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) for the proposed varsity as ?illegal? and ?bad in the eye of law,? the high court had directed the mining giant Vedanta to return the land to the original owners.
A Bench comprising of justices RV Raveendran and AK Patnaik, however, recused from hearing the matter and directed to list the petitions before another Bench. The proposed university project had been in the middle of controversy as politicians and activists had questioned the setting of the varsity on land rich in thorium deposits along the Puri-Konark marine drive.
