The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Sebi against a Securities Appellate Tribunal order which set aside the penalty imposed by the market regulator on RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in shares of the erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) in November 2007. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said it was not inclined to interfere with the order passed by SAT.
Who owns the Navi Mumbai SEZ project? That's the question the IT department seems to be asking.
The state government on September 21 held the referendum, the first of its kind in the country, in 22 villages in Raigad district to decide the fate of the Mumbai SEZ, promoted by Jai Corp headed by Anand Jain, who is a close associate of Reliance Industry chief Mukesh Ambani. However, Raigad district collector Nipun Vinayak is yet to finalise the report on the issue.
Even as Anil Ambani's proposal for a special economic zone in Noida was turned down by the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday, Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai SEZ (formerly called the Maha Mumbai SEZ) has also run into problems.
Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd, promoted by Ambani and his associate Anand Jain, has proposed to split its 1,233-hectare SEZ project into five separate tax-free zones.
The Raigad District Collector had last month issued a notice asking the landowners in the 22 project-affected villages in the district to record their statement regarding their consent for the land acquisition. The petition says that this move is a result of the pressure from local politicians for opposing the SEZ.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Monday set aside the penalty imposed by Sebi on Reliance Industries Ltd's chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) back in November 2007. The ruling has come after all the entities appealed before the tribunal against the order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in January 2021. In January 2021, Sebi imposed a Rs 25 crore fine on Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL), Rs 15 crore on Ambani, who is the company's chairman and managing director, Rs 20 crore on Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd and Rs 10 crore on Mumbai SEZ Ltd in RPL case.
The pro-SEZ lobby is claiming that the benefits of dam are going to be minimal for these villages as the irrigation department has already committed water for various other purposes. However, the anti-SEZ activists are claiming that enough water is still available in the dam to irrigate the land in 22 villages.
A senior state government official said, "Reliance managed to buy the land through direct negotiations with farmers." The state government would forward the company's application to the Centre as soon as it came with an official proposal, he added.
It was difficult to set up a unified zone on the SEZ land.
The ruling came after Maha Mumbai SEZ Sangharsh Samiti, a local organisation opposing the SEZ, on Friday informed the high court that a public interest litigation relating to the project is pending before the Supreme Court.
Regulator Sebi on Friday imposed penalties on Reliance Industries Ltd, its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani as well as two other entities for alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) back in November 2007. Fines of Rs 25 crore and Rs 15 crore have been imposed on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Ambani, respectively. Besides, Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 20 crore and Mumbai SEZ Ltd has been directed to pay Rs 10 crore. The case pertains to sale and purchase of RPL shares in the cash and the futures segments in November 2007.
Maharashtra SEZ act yet to be notified.
The Board of approval in the commerce ministry took these decisions along with approving two fresh proposals of Shyam Steel Industries and Limitless Properties in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively. The BoA also ratified extension of time to 23 developers, including Satyam Computer Services, for implementing tax-free enclaves in the wake of economic slowdown.
There are four nodes and each of these, like Dronagiri, is also formally termed an SEZ, all part of the NMSEZ.
Government said on Wednesday it has extended by one year the in-principle approval to Reliance Industries' Maha Mumbai special economic zone but asked the promoters to cut the size of the zone to 5,000 hectares in line with the new rules.
The Mukesh Ambani-controlled Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd has been charged with indulging in illegal land-filling activity by the tehsildar of the Panvel taluka. Navi Mumbai SEZ is developing a Special Economic Zone over 2,000 hectares in association with Cidco, the Maharashtra government's industrial and township development arm. When contacted, D L Kedare, the tehsildar of the Panvel taluka, said the machinery at the two sites (Ulve and Roadpalli) has been confiscated.
The government on Friday cleared seven co-developers in Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZs, thus endorsing fresh investment through private equity players by a key partner of the Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani.
International Finance Corporation, which plans to hike its India exposure to $1.5 billion by 2007, is eager to invest in the equity of special economic zones, including the Rs 4,950 crore (Rs 49.50 billion) Maha Mumbai SEZ.
The BoA, a 19-member inter-ministerial body that deals with special economic zone -related matters, is scheduled to meet on September 9.
The government will next week consider requests from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group firms and other companies for extension of validity for their different special economic zones.
The Mumbai SEZ had sought the stay on the grounds that if the acquisition is not completed by June 8, the entire process will lapse under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Mukesh Ambani-promoted Mumbai SEZ, coming up in the neighbouring Raigad district, on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a speedy completion of land acquisition by the district administration.
The officials also said that the ministry of commerce and industry had recommended the Maharashtra government to take back the land acquisition notification that it had issued. The zone has been given in-principle approval by the BoA, as RIL is yet to acquire the requisite land.
Mukesh Ambani and Anand Jain promoted Mumbai SEZ Ltd has suspended its land acquisition for the MahaMumbai special economic zone in coastal Raigad for an indefinite period.
The Mumbai SEZ Ltd, promoted jointly by industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his confidant Anand Jain, runs the risk of being scrapped after the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the land acquisition process that otherwise has to conclude by June 8.
Farmers will finally have a right to decide if their land can be acquired or not for special economic zones in Maharashtra.
Undaunted by criticism by a Parliamentary panel, the government cleared 28 fresh special economic zone proposals on Thursday, including the Navi Mumbai promoted by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Two multi-product SEZ projects promoted by Reliance Industries' Chief Mukesh Ambani and the Tatas are among others that would come up for clearance at the meeting of the Board of Approvals in New Delhi on Thursday.
Capping the size of special economic zones to 5,000 hectare may help governments quell social unrest caused by compulsory land acquisition for such projects.
Real estate companies are rushing in on the opportunities galore around the two SEZs promoted by Reliance Industries.
On April 5, the Empowered Group of Ministers put a cap on size for SEZ to 5,000 hectares after land acquisition in Nandigram, West Bengal turned violent killing 14 persons in police firing.
The board would take a decision on these applications on February 20.
The decision regarding this was taken by the Board of Approval in its meeting on September 18.
The plan is to de-notify the entire SEZ.
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