Tuesday, March 7 2006 12:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today(Mar 7,2006) held that the sale of surplus lands by National Textile Corporation was legal.

A bench comprising justice S B Sinha and justice P P Naolekar set aside a Bomaby High Court judgenent which had held that the sale of surplus lands of NTC mills was contrary to the BIFR scheme and apex court order.

The court said that the changes made in the rules for the developement of the mill lands were constitutionally valid. NTC, Appolo Textile Mills, Mumbai Textile Mills, Eliphinstone Mills, Kohinoor Mills Numbar 3, Jupitor Mills, Bombay Dyeing and several others had challanged the High Court judgment.

The High Court judgement was on a writ petition filed by an NGO, Bombay Environmental Action Group, allegeing that surplus lands were sold in violation of rules.

However, the apex court bench said the developmental plan estimated at around Rs 5,000 crore were in conformity with the BIFR scheme.

While allowing the appeal of private property developer the bench said that the environmental aspect and sustainable developement has to go together.