Apex court enraged over continued memorial construction (Lead)
September 11th, 2009 - 8:59 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday threatened the Uttar Pradesh government with contempt proceedings for continuing construction at various memorial sites in Lucknow despite promising to stop work.
Enraged over reports of unending work at the sites, Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice Aftab ordered the state government to “stop forthwith all activities, including construction, repair and maintenance”.
The memorials are being erected for leaders including Chief Minister Mayawati.
The judges also asked the state government “to clear all the memorial sites of all the construction materials and workers within six hours, by 7 p.m. Friday”.
The bench issued the contempt notice to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary after taking note of news reports that construction activity was on even hours after the state government assured the court Tuesday that it would not undertake further work.
Furious over the Mayawati government going back on its own word to the court, the bench said: “You (the state government) are trying to play with fire.”
Maintaining that it generally does not take note of press reports, the bench said it was forced to act in view of the state government’s dismal record of honouring its own promises.
“We are unable to ignore or dismiss the media reports, more so when the record of the Uttar Pradesh government in adhering to its undertakings has not been exemplary,” said the bench.
Ironically, while one bench of the apex court Tuesday reiterated its order to bring to a halt the memorial building spree in Lucknow at a cost of Rs.260 billion, another bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, refused to urgently hear another plea to stop similar construction in Noida.
Advocate Jayant Bhushan, citing the report of a high-powered panel appointed by the court, said the memorial park in Noida was being built without any examination of its impact on environment.
He wanted the court to have the project assessed for environmental impact, but the court deferred the hearing to Oct 9.
The bench headed by Justice Agrawal, meanwhile, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply to the contempt notice by Sep 17 and slated the matter for further hearing on Sep 18.
Lucknow resident Mithilesh Kumar Singh had challenged the government move to build memorials.
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Tags: aftab, agrawal, apex court, chief justice, chief minister, chief secretary, construction activity, construction materials, construction repair, contempt notice, contempt proceedings, continuing construction, dismal record, jayant, k g balakrishnan, lucknow, memorial construction, memorial park, unending work, uttar pradesh government
