Delay in building CUHP Dharamsala’s north campus: HC slaps ₹25k fine on HP for delay in filing reply

The Himachal Pradesh high court has imposed “conditional cost” of ₹25,000 on the state government while taking strong note of delay in filing reply to the petition regarding inordinate delay in constructing the north campus of Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) in Dharamsala.

The Himachal Pradesh high court has imposed “conditional cost” of ₹25,000 on the state government while taking strong note of delay in filing reply to the petition regarding inordinate delay in constructing the north campus of Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) in Dharamsala.

Petitioner’s counsel Nitya Sharma, said that the state had already once defaulted in depositing ₹30 crore in connection with the project, and now, even before the court the same pattern of neglect was continuing as they failed to file a reply in the form of counter-affidavit even after taking several dates. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

“The state government has not filed a reply in spite of the fact that the matter was first taken up on April 11, 2025, and have taken many opportunities thereafter. Resultantly, conditional cost of ₹25,000 is imposed upon the state to be paid to the “Chief Justice Disaster Relief Fund 2025”, ruled the division bench court of chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Ranjan Sharma on September 16 during hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by Dharamsala resident Atul Bharadwaj.

Petitioner’s counsel Nitya Sharma, said that the state had already once defaulted in depositing ₹30 crore in connection with the project, and now, even before the court the same pattern of neglect was continuing as they failed to file a reply in the form of counter-affidavit even after taking several dates.

The petitioner had moved the high court over an inordinate delay in constructing the north campus of CUHP in Dharamsala. The petition pointed out that former PM Manmohan Singh had announced the establishment of a new central university in Himachal Pradesh in 2007 after which in 2010 a twin campus model was proposed for CUHP with one campus in Dharamshala and another in Dehra. The petitioner pointed out that the state govt displays preference for Dehra campus over Dharamshala.

The project for establishing north campus of CUHP in Dharamshala has been lingering despite the fact that all clearances for the project has been given by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests and Union Ministry for Human Resource Development. The petition also pointed out that the state government has not deposited ₹30 crore for transferring forest land Dharamshala in the name of CUHP due to which the project has failed to take off. The file for depositing the amount was sent to the government in July 2023. While the Dharamsala campus has been delayed, the south campus of CUHP in Dehra is getting ready.

The case will now come up for hearing on October 28.