HC quashes Maharashtra order to acquire Tata Power’s land for Ayurvedic wellness project

The Bombay High Court has quashed the notifications and show-cause notices by the Maharashtra government seeking to acquire 84 hectares of land belonging to Tata Power Company Limited in Pune for a private Ayurvedic wellness project, reported Bar and Bench.

In March 2025, the Bharatiya Janata Party issued a notification categorising 84 hectares of land situated near the Thokarwadi Dam and Reservoir as an industrial area.

The land forms the catchment area for Tata Power’s 75-megawatt Bhivpuri Hydro Station and its proposed 1,000-megawatt Bhivpuri Pumped Storage Project.

In June 2018, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote to the late industrialist Ratan Tata proposing that part of Tata Power’s land in Pune be made available for “vedic pandits to take up chanting”, The Indian Express reported.

The Maharashtra government had intended to transfer the catchment area to Maharishi Vedoddharak Foundation for a project worth Rs 1,500 crores, featuring a wellness centre and an Ayurvedic college, Bar and Bench added.

Tata Power challenged the move, contending that the land had been given to its predecessors over a century ago for the public purpose of generating hydroelectricity.

The company argued that the government violated the 2013 Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act to benefit a private company.

On Thursday, a bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram V Shirsat...

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