The Supreme Court today agreed to consider the petitions filed by farmers against land acquisition for the bullet train project on March 20.
The construction for the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor project, funded by Japan, is expected to begin this year.
The bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the Centre, Gujarat government and National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd, among others on a petition filed by Jigrabhai Amratbhai Patel and others.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Sanjay Parikh and Kamini Jaiswal are representing the affected farmers and landowners.
The Gujarat High Court had on September 19, 2019, rejected over 100 petitions filed by farmers challenging the land acquisition process.
The HC had upheld the validity of the Land Acquisition Act amended by Gujarat government in 2016. It also said that the farmers can approach the government to seek higher compensation for their lands.
508 km bullet train project, which links Mumbai to Ahmedabad, is one of the most ambitious projects of the Narendra Modi government.