Orissa High Court
WP(C)/2051/2021 on 15 February, 2021
W.P.(C)(PIL) No.2051 of 2021
03. 15.02.2021 1. Heard Mr. Shivsankar Mohanty, learned counsel for the Petitioner, Mr. A.K. Parija, learned Advocate General for the State-Opposite Party Nos.1 to 4 and Mr. D. Mohapatra, learned counsel for the Opposite Party No.5-C.D.A.
2. This petition, styled as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), is by a person who describes himself as a social worker. It questions the decision of the Government of Odisha to construct a new bus terminal at Khannagar, Cuttack.
3. There are various grounds on which the challenge is raised, the principal one being that the proposed bus terminal is t be constructed on a site which is a residential zone and, therefore, is in violation of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Cuttack made under the Cuttack Development Authority (Planning, Building and Standard) Regulation, 2017 read with the Orissa Development Authority Act, 1982.
4. It is further submitted by Mr. Shivsankar Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner, that originally the current Badambadi Bus Terminal was proposed to be shifted to Gopalpur and construction of the new terminal had even begun there. He referred to an order dated 18th November, 2019 passed by this Court in W.P.(C) No.16 of 2014 in this regard. According to him, there was no logical reason for the -2- government to have decided to shift the proposed bus terminal to Khannagar, which is inside the city and would inevitably add to the chaos and congestion now faced by commuters and the general public.
5. The third ground urged is that the State Government has, in the pretext of constructing the proposed bus terminal, already shifted out the Biswanth Pandit Central Library operating from Khannagar with a collection over 53,000 reference books. According to the Petitioner, shifting out the library would adversely affect the interests of the public in general and a number of students in particular for whom the facility was a valuable source of knowledge.
6. Fourthly, it is pointed out that in order to make way for the proposed bus terminal, the building of the Government Girls High School at Cuttack has been demolished. It is stated that the public interest cannot be served by demolishing a school to make way for a bus terminal, thereby denying the right to education for a number of students.
7. Lastly, it is submitted that the central nursery at Badambadi, Cuttack over an area of 2.5 acres of land, and having medicinal plants, would be destroyed and this will have a very adverse impact on the greenery in Cuttack city.
-3-8. An affidavit has been filed by the Collector, Cuttack on 11th February, 2021 refuting all of the above submissions. On the first aspect of the site for the proposed bus terminal, Mr. Ashok Parija, learned Advocate General appearing for the Opposite Parties - State, has referred to the categorical assertions in the affidavit of the Collector that the present petition proceed on a mistaken notion that the bus terminal is proposed to be constructed in 'residential use zone'. Mr. D. Mohapatra, learned counsel appearing for the Cuttack Development Authority (CDA), added to this submission by drawing the attention of the Court to the specific provisions of the Cuttack Development Authority (Planning and Building Standards) Regulations, 2017 as well as the CDP which show that the proposed bus terminal is to be constructed in an area earmarked as 'Public and Semi-Public Use Zone' along with a smaller portion earmarked for 'Recreational Use Zone'. According to the CDA, the construction of the bus terminal in such an area is not a prohibited activity.
9. Mr. Parija states that the proposed bus terminal is in a conceptual stage; in-principle permission for commencing the project of the proposed bus terminal has been obtained from the Development Plan and Building Permission Committee of the CDA and it is only after the plans are approved and -4- sanctioned by the CDA will actually construction begin. He, therefore, submits that the apprehension of the Petitioner that the proposed bus terminal would be in violation of either the master plan or the CDP is totally misconceived. The Court is also assured by Mr. Mohapatra, learned counsel for the CDA that there is no question of any violation of the CDP as a result of the proposed bus terminal being constructed in the selected site.
10. The Court is satisfied with the above assurances on affidavit about the construction of the proposed bus terminal not being in violation of the master plan or the CDP or any of the statutory norms. Indeed, the apprehension expressed in the petition in this regard do not appear to be well-founded.
11. As regards to the decision to shift the site of the proposed bus terminal from Gopalpur to the present location within the city, the stand taken in paragraph 11 of the affidavit of the Collector reads as under.
"11. That the decision of the State to construct the proposed Bus Terminal is based on previous experience of the State Government in other cities of Odisha like Puri and Berhampur, where it is seen that City Bus Terminal on the outskirts of the cities have failed to pick up footfall of commuters and have failed to check buses being parked inside the city in an unauthorized -5- manner. Hence, it is envisaged that the site at Gopalpur earlier proposed for the proposed Bus Terminal, which is away from Cuttack city, will be kept reserved for other development purposes in the future."
12. This Court is of the view that these are the matters of policy and there should be some margin of appreciation in matters of this nature for the Government to take a call on which location is best suited for a bus terminal that would subserve the needs of the commuting public at large. In light of the submissions of the Opposite Parties, it is not possible to view the above decision to shift the proposed bus terminal from Gopalpur to the selected site within the city as arbitrary or irrational warranting any interference by this Court.
13. As regards the Government Girls High School at Badambadi, it is pointed out that it had a total enrolment of 20 students i.e., 10 students in Class IX and 10 students in Class X. In the circumstances, a decision was taken to merge the said School with the Badamabadi New Colony High School way back on 11th March, 2020 by the School and Mass Education Department, Government of Odisha. It is further pointed out that the distance between the Government Girls High School, Badambadi and the Badambadi New Colony High School is only about 0.5 kms. All the students of the Government Girls -6- High School, Badambadi have already been admitted to the Badambadi New Colony High School on 16th December, 2020. Classes have already commenced.
14. In view of the above explanation of the factual position, this Court is of the view that this again, does not constitute a valid ground for interference by the Court since the decision appears to be a reasonable one in the circumstances. With all the students of the Girls High School having been accommodated in another government school only half a kilometer away, the apprehension of any violation of their right to education is without basis.
15. Now turning to the issue of the Biswanth Pandit Library, Mr. Parija, learned Advocate General, points out that the aforesaid Library was initially at the Shaheed Bhawan and was in the year 1998 shifted to Khannagar. He states that states that all the volumes therein will be shifted to a temporary accommodation for ultimately being relocated to an exclusive new building with state-of-the-art facilities and better amenities. This again is a policy decision and in the circumstances explained, it appears to the Court that the decision to have an exclusive new building with better facilities for a public library, with no harm caused to the large volume of books, cannot be faulted with.
-7-16. Lastly as far as the greenery is concerned, the Collector, Cuttack, who is present in Court, instructs the learned Advocate General that the nursery plants have already been shifted to the CDA area and therefore, there is no apprehension of any loss of greenery or plants as stated by the Petitioner.
17. In the circumstances, this Court does not find any ground to interfere in the present PIL and it is dismissed as such.
18. An urgent certified copy of this order be issued as per rules.
( Dr. S. Muralidhar) Chief Justice ( B.P. Routray ) Judge C.R. Biswal/ B.K. Barik