Ahmedabad, 4 October 2013

The Gujarat High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking CBI probe on alleged irregularities in allotment of land to Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City project.

The High Court observed that the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India cannot be the sole basis of a public interest litigation (PIL).

The PIL was filed early this year by one Mohammed Suleman Pathan.

Delivering the judgement, division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala observed that a CAG report is always subject to scrutiny by the public accounts committee of the state assembly after government gives its view on the observations made in the report. “CAG is a constitutional body and a key figure in the parliamentary system. However, CAG is not empowered to question the merits of government policies,” the court observed while dismissing the PIL.

Court further held that there was not merit in the allegations made in the PIL, nor in the contentions raised by senior counsel Yatin Oza appearing for the petitioner. It also dismissed the allegations by the petitioners that the state government had given undue favoures to IL&FS by making it JV partner in the project.

It was further observed by the court that government had not sacrificed larger public interest nor its intentions seemed malafied in developing the project on public private partnership model. It was of the opinion that the state government acted in a transparent manner with regard to the GIFT city project.

The Rs 9,700 crore project is being developed Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDCL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) through a 50:50 joint venture company, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited (GIFTCL).

It is planned as a financial Central Business District (CBD) between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar as a greenfield development. Till date Rs 450 crore has already been invested in the project.