The Hindu : Front Page : Supreme Court to hear plea against Secretariat project on July 19

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Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

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Supreme Court to hear plea against Secretariat project on July 19

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JULY 9. The Supreme Court will hear on July 19 a special leave petition (SLP) seeking a stay of the proposed construction by the Tamil Nadu Government of the Rs. 500-crore new Secretariat complex at Kotturpuram in Chennai.

A three-judge bench, comprising the Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice A.K. Mathur, fixed the date when a `mention' was made today by counsel Nikhil Nayyar for an early hearing of the SLP, directed against an April 19 judgment of the Madras High Court dismissing a batch of petitions challenging the construction of the complex.

When the SLP, filed by S.M. Arasu and P. Krishnan, earlier came up for hearing before a vacation Bench, a submission was made on behalf of the Government that the construction would not be taken up for the time being. It was therefore directed to be listed for August 19.

Today, Mr. Nayyar brought to the notice of the Bench that despite the undertaking the Government was going ahead with the construction.

Senior counsel L. Nageswara Rao, appearing for the Government, said there would be no objection to an early hearing and that nothing would happen till then.

`Burden on infrastructure'

The petitioners submitted that the Government's intention was to push through the project, which envisaged construction of a floor space of 10-12 lakh square feet at a staggering cost. It would adversely affect and place a huge burden on the infrastructure in the area — roads, water, sanitation and environment. Several institutions would have to be demolished and/or relocated. A number of hostels housing more than 1,000 students would also be dislocated.

Key questions

The petitioners said the SLP raised several important questions of law: Whether the decision to construct new Secretariat was vitiated by the Government failing to take into account relevant factors or conduct any study to ascertain the impact of the project on traffic, road safety, air and noise pollution, ground water depletion and other environmental aspects? Whether the project was violative of Section 58 of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 as well as the Master Plan and development plan made thereunder? Whether the High Court was right in holding that the October 27, 2003 notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (since replaced with a fresh one) was unenforceable and could not impose any restriction on construction activity?

The petitioners submitted that the High Court failed to notice that the proposed location of the Secretariat would mean a radical change in use of the area and would be contrary to the first Master Plan. They prayed for a stay of the impugned judgment and of the construction.

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