Ministerial body settles issue of Essar SEZ violation

In the Essar case, the Department of Revenue said that the promoters had violated SEZ rules by starting the work on a tax-free enclave before it got the formal approval. Under the Act, SEZ can be developed only on vacant land.

“Since the promoters had started developing the site in anticipation of getting sanctions, the eGoM has condoned the same,” a senior Commerce Ministry official told PTI after the meeting.

The eGoM also allowed the Mundra Port SEZ of the Adanis to be treated as a combined entity though it is being developed on fragmented sites. The Act says that SEZ can be developed on contiguous land.

The project was spread on three different sites and required government clearance for being treated as a unified zone. The port SEZ, though under the private sector, will be overseen by the customs authorities.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.

The eGoM has met after a long gap due to pre-occupation of Mukherjee, who heads over 50 GoMs in the UPA government. Besides, there were a lot of controversies on land acquisition for industrial development purposes.