Adani Port and Special Economic Zone trades higher on the bourses

Adani Port and Special Economic Zone is currently trading at Rs. 127.60, up by 2.70 points or 2.16 % from its previous closing of Rs. 124.90 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 126.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 128.45 and Rs. 125.00 respectively. So far 175501 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 167.15 on 04-Nov-2011 and a 52 week low of Rs. 105.15 on 24-Aug-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 132.70 and Rs. 123.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 25603.38 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 77.50% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 15.07% and 7.43% respectively.

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld Gujarat government’s decision to allocate 1,000 acres of land in Mundra for development of a special economic zone (SEZ) by Adani Port and Special Economic Zone, by dismissing a Special Leave Petition challenging the allocation on grounds of lack of merit.

A division bench comprising Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Dipak Misra dismissed the petition filed by residents of Zarpara village and few members of its Gram Panchayat on grounds of lack of merit and refused to overrule the Gujarat High Court’s judgment dated June 22, 2011. The bench observed that the Gujarat government was statutorily empowered to allocate the land and declined the petitioner’s request for allocation of an alternate 1,000 acre pastoral wasteland to the Zarpara Panchayat.

The Gujarat government had allotted 1,000 acres of pastoral land at Zarpara to Adani Port and SEZ in 2007. However, this allocation was challenged in the Gujarat High Court via multiple public interest litigations, which were dismissed on June 22, 2011. The petitioners then approached the SC alleging that the land allotment was illegal and arbitrary and had disturbed the ratio of cattle to pastoral land in the village as prescribed by the state government.

Adani Ports and SEZ contested these allegations and stated that the land was allotted as per the law. The Gujarat Panchayat Act, 1993 empowers the state government to resume the land from a village Panchayat and allot it for purpose of setting up a Special Economic Zone, which caters to the public at large. The company also submitted before the Apex Court that it had paid the price of the land at the rate of 130% of the prevailing market value, including a 30% premium.