New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed
the allotment of land to cricketer Sourav Ganguly by West
Bengal government in Kolkata saying it was "unreasonable and
arbitrary" and asked him to surrender the plot it in two
weeks.
The bench, also comprising Justice G S Singhvi, set aside
the allotment of 63.04 'katha' land given to the former India
captain by the Left Front government in the year 2000 in posh
Salt Lake locality of Kolkata.
It directed Ganguly to surrender the land within two
weeks.
"The impugned allotment of a different and bigger plot by
the government in favour of the allottee without any
advertisement, when initially advertisement was resorted to,
and then it was given up and everything was rushed through in
hot haste, is unreasonable and arbitrary," the bench said.
The court passed the order on a petition filed by a
West Bengal-based NGO, Humanity and others, challenging the
Calcutta High Court's order which had upheld the state
government's decision to allot the land to Ganguly.
"The Government granted the allotment with remarkable
speed and without considering all aspects of the matter. This
court does not find any legitimacy in the action of the
Government, which has to act within the discipline of the
constitutional law," the court said.
Allowing the appeal of NGO, the bench quashed the land
allotment and also directed the government to refund the money
paid by Ganguly for the plot.
The apex court, however, lauded Ganguly's cricketing
skills particularly his "glorious cover drives and effortless
lofted shots".
PTI
First Published: Friday, May 27, 2011, 00:00