Past can be a strange beast. It does not care who you are; or where you are. It catches up. Like Vedanta University just did. The much-hyped international university that Vedanta wanted to set up in Odisha more than a decade-and-half back has caught all major political parties in a bind. On Wednesday last, the Supreme Court upheld the Orissa High Court’s 2011 order quashing the land acquisition proceedings for Vedanta University which could never take off. The apex court’s observation of the state government’s role was nothing short of scathing.
“It is not appreciable why the Government offered such an undue favour in favour of one trust/ company. Thus, the entire acquisition proceedings and the benefits, which were proposed by the State Government were vitiated by favouritism and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” the SC bench stated citing the HC’s detailed findings.
Back in the mid-2000 when Vedanta proposed the global university in India, at least eight states were vying for the big ticket project. The Odisha government, of course, did go the extra mile to bag it. Even the groundswell of resistance to the massive volume of land to be acquired at a critical environmentally sensitive zone could not deter the government from going forward. It was the period when the metal and mining boom was taking place and the state government wanted to ride on the global demand generated by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It had unfurled its massive industrialization plan and rolled out the red carpet for global giants most of which eyed the mines on offer. Vedanta came with the global university dream, something akin to big US universities and the government was completely taken in.
What did the state government offer? Total autonomy to Vedanta University and its authorities with regard to administration, admission, fee structure, curriculum and faculty selection apart from complete immunity from any reservation laws of the state, assistance in getting regulatory approvals from UGC and AICTE, four-lane road from Bhubaneswar to the Marine Drive from Puri to Konark among others. It even offered exemption from all state levies, taxes, duties from the date of signing of the MoU. Vedanta was promised the moon.
After the SC verdict, an issue of such proportion would have snowballed into a huge political controversy but it was not to be, quite obviously. With the heat of the 2024 general elections rising, the BJP would not have let go such an opportunity to pin the BJD down but is at pains to do so. For, the BJP was a partner of BJD in the government, when the university was being pushed through. The present state BJP chief Manmohan Samal was the Revenue Minister while his colleague Samir Dey was in charge of Higher Education department - both responsible for the land and education matters then.
The Congress too has its hands tied, howsoever it may want to corner the BJD government. Because, its recent prized catch in the form of ex-chief secretary of the state Bijay Patnaik was in the thick of things then. Patnaik was the then principal secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and took the lead in the government’s endeavour to bag the global university project. An office of overall coordination for the project under his supervision was even set up at the CMO. Even after retirement, Patnaik - who had the distinction of being secretary to three CMs - had become the president of the proposed university. The grand old party, thus has, lips sealed.
The much-hyped project had met its end by around 2014 but its epitaph was written after the apex court dismissed multiple appeals challenging the Orissa HC order last week. Guess, who had the last laugh? The BJD, of course. It did not have to break a sweat in face of the serious observations made by the apex court.
Siba Mohanty
Resident Editor, Odisha
sibamohanty@newindianexpress.com