SC relief for Adani Ports and SEZ

New Delhi, 27 January 2014

The Supreme Court on Monday granted an interim stay on a Gujarat high court order shutting down the 12 operational units at Gujarat’s Kutch based Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ). Companies located in APSEZ including Thermax Ltd, Ashapura Garments Pvt. Ltd, Terram Geosynthetics Pvt Ltd, Dorf Ketal Speciality Catalyst Pvt. Ltd, Oriental Carbon and Chemicals Ltd and Oil Field Warehouse and Services were among the petitioners that challenged the high court order.

In its interim order, the Supreme Court has allowed all the units to continue function, but restrained them from carrying out further construction, APSEZ said in a statement.
The Supreme Court directed that as per order of the Gujarat high court, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) process APSEZ’s application within 30 days.

Earlier this month the Gujarat high court had ordered the closure of all functional units and barred any further construction at the Mundra special economic zones (SEZs).

The Supreme Court’s decision may also have a bearing on Alstom Bharat Forge Power Ltd (ABFPL), a joint venture between French power company Alstom SA and Bharat Forge Ltd, which had sought relief from a stay by the Gujarat high court on a power equipment manufacturing project located in the Mundra SEZ.

The company, which had started construction of a power equipment manufacturing facility in the SEZ with an annual capacity of 5,000 megawatts, was ordered to stop all work and close following the high court order in May 2012.