The Hindu : Business : Ecosmart plea to High Court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

Business

Business

Ecosmart plea to High Court

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Ecosmart India Ltd has sought a direction from the High Court to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to cooperate with the preparation of master plan for the Sabarimala development.

In a counter-affidavit filed in response to a writ petition against the awarding of the consultancy for the master plan to Ecosmart, the chief project officer of the company pointed out that the final master plan had to be submitted by July 2005. The Travancore Devaswom Board and the Union Ministry of Environment had been consulted at every stage.

The permission to use the forest land for the development projects had been granted by the Supreme Court subject to the condition that it should be used in tune with the master plan. In fact, the TDB had cooperated with the company on earlier occasions. However, it had now made a somersault in its attitude towards the project.

The affidavit said that such a change was due to the board's differences with the Government over the Devaswom appointments. The Government had recently directed the board to stop certain appointments in the boards in the wake of the allegations of corruptions.

The affidavit said that the board was not cooperating with the company. If the board did not cooperate with the company, it might affect the preparation of the master plan.

The board had earlier informed the court that the State Government had not consulted it before asking Ecosmart India Ltd to prepare a master plan for Sabarimala.

However; the Government countered the board's stand and pointed out that the issue was being used as a bargaining chip in the appointment issue.

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