M A I N   N E W S

Tata Camelot
Can’t trust UT Admn to fight for us: Petitioners
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 9
PIL petitioners opposing the Tata Camelot project in Mohali district today pleaded with the Delhi High Court not to exclude them from the case by converting it into an inter-state dispute between Punjab and Chandigarh.

“Don’t shut us out and make us rely on the union territory to take on the company on our behalf,” senior advocate PS Patwalia pleaded with a Bench comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw.

“We can’t trust the UT Administration as it has been unwilling to oppose the project in the past,” he said while arguing for PIL petitioners — Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation and advocate Alok Jagga.

The Chandigarh Administration had kept quiet when the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave the green signal to the project, forcing the PIL petitioners to move the SC to challenge the HC ruling, he pointed out.

But for the appeal filed in public interest by the foundation headed by Justice (retd) SS Sodhi and about 20 eminent individuals, the high-rise project comprising 19 towers having 7-28 floors each would have come up in the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake, posing a threat to the ecology of the region and the rich and varied flora and fauna in the wildlife zone, he pleaded. He said 60% of civil servants in the Chandigarh Administration were from the Punjab cadre and as such they could not be expected to oppose the project approved by the Punjab Government.

Appearing for Chandigarh, senior advocate AS Chandiok said the administration was in a better position to protect the interests of the UT’s residents than the petitioners. The arguments would resume on September 15.