Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce and industry, in Calcutta on Wednesday. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, Jan. 9: The Tea Board will invite expressions of interest for five closed gardens each in Kerala and Bengal on January 15.

Under Section 16(E) of the Tea Act, the board is vested with powers to take over gardens that have been lying closed for more than three months and find new owners. This is the first time in 54 years that the section is being invoked.

“The legal implications are being worked upon by the law ministry. In Kerala, of the eight closed gardens, we can apply the act in case of five. In Bengal, there are 13 closed gardens, of which nine have litigation and ownership issues. We will invoke 16(E) on five of these nine gardens in the first phase,” said Union minister of state for commerce and industry Jairam Ramesh on the sidelines of the India International Potato Expo 2008 here today.

Earlier, the Centre had set up a committee to evaluate the future of closed tea gardens in the country.

There were representatives from Bengal, Kerala and Assam in the panel.

Tea Board chairman Basudeb Banerjee was also in the committee.

The expressions of interest issued by the Tea Board will be for gardens that have not managed to find even prospective owners. Bengal had earlier cancelled the land lease of two gardens — Ramjhora and Kathaguri.

For these two gardens, the office of the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri has already invited expressions of interest.

“The last date for the Bengal EoI is January 15. They have received two bids for Kathalguri and none for Ramjhora. For another two gardens, Samsing and Bharnobari, discussions are going on between existing and prospective owners. No talks are being held for the remaining nine gardens,” said Ramesh.