Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has stayed until June 23 acquisition of land for the Vedanta University to be set up in the coastal town of Puri.

The university is proposed to come up near the Konark-Puri marine drive in over 6,000 acres of land with a phased investment of Rs.150 billion. But the university project faces considerable opposition from local residents.

"Some people who have lost their land have sought the intervention of the court describing the land acquisition for the project as illegal," one of their lawyers, Subir Palit, told.

After hearing the petitions, Justices I.M. Quddusi and S.R. Singharavelu ordered the government on Friday to stay the land acquisition till the next hearing of the case June 23. IANS