Why Videocon only for Navi Mumbai land,HC asks CIDCO

The high court was responding to the three PILs that have taken exception to the allotment of nearly 250 acres of land to Videocon for LCD manufacturing factory by the Vilasrao Deshmukh government last year.

The project is going to be a joint venture between CIDCO and Videocon,CIDCO counsel Iqbal Chagla told the court. CIDCO,which is the planning authority for Navi Mumbai area,will be having 26 per cent equity in the Videocon project.

One of the petitioners,Vishnu Gawli said that the land’s value is around Rs 800 crore,but Videocon got it for just Rs 40 crore. Even tenders were not invited,he said. “Why did CIDCO pick out only one group?” asked Division Bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice D Y Chandrachud on Thursday. Chagla replied that this is a state of the art facility and there are only three companies in the world that manufactured LCDs.

Justice Chandrachud stated that there is large number of state of the art industries,so why choose this one? Chagla replied that the state was losing industry after industry and that Maharashtra is becoming a weak state when it comes to industrial development. He also cited the example of how Nokia wanted to set up a factory here but it subsequently set it up in Chennai.

State advocate general Ravi Kadam backed CIDCO,by saying that “all new industries coming to Maharashtra are being driven out due to one PIL or the other”.

Gawli,however,argued that although CIDCO was set up to develop the townships in Navi Mumbai,it had not undertaken a single housing project since 1996.

The high court adjourned hearing of the matter till March 30.