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Indian Court Stays Vedanta U. Land
Acquisition
By
Shailaja Neelakantan/NEW DELHI
Issue
cover-dated May 25, 2008
An Indian court has halted land acquisition
for an ambitious, $3.5-billion project to set up a huge private
university in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, a newspaper
reports.
The project, called Vedanta University,
has been controversial from the start despite its having the
blessings of the Orissa state government. The university’s backer,
Anil Agarwal, is a metals-and-mining mogul whose company, Vedanta
Resources, has made the 53-year-old industrialist a fortune
of $3.8-billion.
Mr. Agarwal’s had announced an endowment of $1-billion for the
university. The Orissa government was facilitating the acquisition
of a total of 6,750 acres using India’s laws of eminent domain.
But the Orissa High Court—acting on
a petition from residents of 18 villages comprising farms, homesteads,
and pastures—issued a stay order. The state government has so
far acquired only 700 acres for the project, the newspaper reports.
Mr. Agarwal envisages Vedanta as a
world-class, American-style research university that will offer
undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. In 2023, when
it is scheduled to be completed, Vedanta University is expected
to house 100,000 students and 40,000 faculty and staff members.
Copyright © 2005 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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