New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday fixed
March 12 to hear the plea of Uttar Pradesh government for
lifting the stay on the work for construction of statues and
memorials for Dalit leaders at a park in Noida near here,
which was causing a loss of Rs three lakh everyday.
The matter, which was listed before a special forest
bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, could not be
reached for hearing due to paucity of time.
When the bench was rising for the day, senior advocate
K K Venugopal, appearing for UP government, sought an urgent
hearing on the grounds that the authorities were losing Rs
three lakh every day and further cost of maintenance was
increasing for those structures already constructed.
"All work has been held up. We are losing Rs three lakh
everyday," Venugopal said.
The Bench, also comprising Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab
Alam, initially wanted to hear the matter on February 19 but
senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for the opposite
side, expressed his inavaibility on that date prompting it to
fix the hearing for March 12.
The court had on October 9 directed Uttar Pradesh
government to stop the work at the site and allowed NOIDA
authorities only to continue with other work like planting of
trees.
However, later the Centre in its affidavit had said
there was no need for environmental clearance for the
controversial project.
The Centre's view was in response to the apex court's
notice asking it to respond to the Central Empowered Committee
report stating that the state government should seek
environmental clearance for the Rs 650-crore project in 33.43
hectare.
The Centre had earlier opposed the project on
environmental grounds.
When the matter came up for hearing, Venugopal said the
Centre's affidavit was in favour of Uttar Pradesh government
and it should be given permission at the earliest to go ahead
with the construction work.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 05, 2010, 19:36