E-Paper
Shortage of construction material: Hearing deferred till Jan 10 on Punjab’s plea
A Punjab and Haryana high court bench on Wednesday deferred hearing on a plea from Punjab government, claiming shortage of construction material, till January 10.
A Punjab and Haryana high court bench on Wednesday deferred hearing on a plea from Punjab government, claiming shortage of construction material, till January 10.
The hearing was deferred by high court bench of justice AG Masih and justice Vikram Aggarwal observing that the bench to which the matter was referred to has not assembled. As per December 22 order of this bench, the case was to be taken up by the bench of chief justice. However, as chief justice did not hold court on Wednesday, it got listed again before this bench.
On December 22 also the bench had refused to stay State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) order to Punjab to immediately stop all mining activities at various desilting sites in the state. The court had observed that state’s plea about shortage of sand and other mining minerals due to this order “does not appear to be correct” as the order passed by SEIAA only restrains the mining, being carried out for desilting of the river-beds and the dams.
On December 22 also the chief justice was not holding the court and the state government had sought intervention of this bench stating that there was likelihood of shortage of sand and other mining minerals in case the SEIAA orders are allowed to continue. The pleas about mining and environment related matters are listed as per roster with the chief justice.
When the hearing resumed on Wednesday, the state’s advocate general, Bipan Ghai, had again pressed for hearing on the ground that there is scarcity of mining minerals, especially the building material leading to escalation of prices. However, the bench refused to intervene and posted the matter for January 10.
