As the Land acquisitions for the various Special economic zones come under a political scanner, the commerce ministry has finally decided to keep all SEZ approvals on hold until the new rehabilitation policy for those displaced in the process promised by the Prime Minister himself is put in place.

Even those SEZs which have got permission but are yet to take off will be brought under the scanner.

Also hampering the SEZ proposals is the continuing differences between the Finance and Commerce ministries. According to the sources, there have been differences between the two ministries over the size and number of SEZs. The chances of huge revenue losses have also raised the eyebrows in the Finance Ministry.

The Group of Minister on SEZs is likely to meet on January 22 to review the performances of the 75 SEZs sanctioned so far. It is after this review that the GoM is likely to take a call on giving clearance to more SEZs.