What is vacant Land? SEZ Rules amended
As per Rule 7(2) of the SEZ Rules, “The identified area shall be contiguous and vacant and it shall have no public thoroughfare.”
The Proviso reads, “Provided that the Board may relax any or all of the conditions, except the condition regarding identified area to be a vacant land”
Now what is vacant land? Can it be considered vacant if there is a port or a structure in it? This was a dispute raised last year when it was noticed that certain SEZs notified already had some structures in them. So it became necessary to define ‘vacant land'.
Now it is defined as ‘the land where there are no functional ports, manufacturing units, industrial activities or structures in which any commercial or economic activity is in progresses'
So if there is a non-functional port or a structure (maybe a temple) in the identified area, it can still be declared as an SEZ !
Some other minor changes have also been made in the SEZ Rules.
Also see our story SEZ Rule: EGoM decides 'Vacant' land also includes raised structures; Essar Steel and Mundra Port SEZs ' issues stand settled , which we carried on 25.10.2008