Jharkhand High Court
The Court On Its Own Motion vs . on 27 January, 2021
Author: Aparesh Kumar Singh
Bench: Aparesh Kumar Singh, Anil Kumar Choudhary
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (PIL) No. 3503 of 2014
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The Court on its Own Motion Versus.
1. The Union of India through its Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport And Highways, New Delhi
2. The Union of India represented by its Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi
3. The National Highways Authority of India represented by its Chairman
4. The State of Jharkhand through Principal Secretary, Road Construction Department, Govt. of Jharkhand
5. Principal Secretary, Department of Forest and Environment, Govt. of Jharkhand
6. Chief Executive Officer, Municipal Corporation, Ranchi
7. Subha Jha
8. Arbind Kumar Jha
9. Narendra Mishra
10. Ranchi Express Limited, Hyderabad
11. D.G,M., M/s Canara Bank, Prima Corporate Branch, Secunderabad, Telangana State
12. Ministry of Corporate Affairs through its Secretary, Govt. of India
13. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office through its Director under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India
14. Ministry of Surface Transport & Highways through its Secretary, Govt.of India
15. Central Bureau of Investigation through its Director --- Respondents With W.P.(PIL) No. 2470 of 2015
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The Court on its Own Motion Versus The State of Jharkhand & others With W.P. (PIL) No. 735 of 2018
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Indrajeet Samanta versus Union of India & others
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CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary Through: Video Conferencing
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Amicus Curiae: Mr. Nipun Bakshi
For the Resp. - State: M/s Rajiv Ranjan, A.G.
For the UOI: Mr. Rajiv Sinha, ASGI
For the Resp. -NHAI: Ms. Sweety Topno, Advocate
For the Resp. No. 10: Mr. A.K. Mehta, Advocate
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75/ 27.01.2021 Col. A.S. Kapoor, Project Director, NHAI, PIU, Jamshedpur, Mr. Ajay Kumar Sinha, Project Director, NHAI, PIU, Ranchi and Mr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra, Regional Officer, NHAI, Jharkhand are present.
2. Pursuant to the order dated 17th December, 2020, three affidavits have been filed. i) By the Divisional Forest Officer, Ranchi. This seeks to address the issue 2 relating to compensatory plantation / afforestation upon felling of trees in widening / expansion / restoration of the State Highways. By Office order No. 5862 dated 20th November, 2015 and its amendment vide Memo No. 3856 dated 9th August, 2016, the High Power Committee constituted by this Court vide order dated 27th July, 2015, has been notified. This Committee is also looking after plantation of trees felled upon widening / expansion / restoration of the Highways being constructed by the National Highway and State High Highway Authorities. The High Power Committee has allowed cutting / felling of the trees with the condition that the User Agency will plant 10 times of the trees felled. Taking note of the difficulty raised by the National Highways & State Highway Authorities regarding plantation and its maintenance, Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change has, after taking opinion from the Finance Department, issued instruction vide letter no. 4427 dated 20 th November, 2019 that the User Agency can now deposit the amount in the concerned Treasury under the head 8782 in favour of the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO), who will draw the amount from the Treasury and can execute compensatory plantation as per direction of HPC.
3. Learned Advocate General submits that since the system has now been developed, the National Highways Authority and State Highways Authority can deposit the required amount for compensatory afforestation before the DDOs of the Forest Department of the concerned districts. The concerned authorities can act accordingly.
4. A question has arisen regarding plantation and maintenance work of the existing projects under NHAI or State Highway Authorities. This issue is specifically concerning the W.P. (PIL) No. 735 of 2018 relating to plantation of trees in the National Highway from Ranchi to Hazaribag.
5. Mrs. Sweety Topno, learned counsel for the NHAI, would seek instruction and apprise the Court as to whether plantation and maintenance work in this stretch of NH is being undertaken, as per the requirement of law and directions of the Forest Department or they are contemplating to hand it over to the Department by depositing the necessary fund.
6. On the part of the NHAI, two supplementary affidavits have been filed. One by Mr. Ajay Kumar Sinha, Project Director, NHAI, Implementation Unit, which is dealing with the execution of the work under NH-33 in Package No. I & II. The progress of the work and the remaining incomplete works regarding both these packages, have been described by way of a Table under Para-5. A perusal thereof indicates that in Package No.-I, 62% of physical progress and 45. 45.73% of financial progress has been undertaken, but the scheduled date of completion i.e. 10th December, 2020 stands extended upto 7th June, 2021 due to Covid-19. In this 3 Package, an important component of the work relates to inter-change regarding which, some design modification is necessary for enhancing the safety of the road users. Mr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra, Regional Officer, NHAI, Jharkhand has Informed the Court that the proposal relating to interchange has been placed before the Headquarter, NHAI and deliberations upon that are underway. If approved, execution of the work may take considerable time. He would be able to apprise the Court about the progress thereof by the next date. It appears from the Table that construction in one ROB has recently started after approval of design by Railways; in the second ROB, approval of design from IIT Delhi has been obtained and work is likely to start from 15th February, 2021. New design approved by the Railway and additional acquisition of land is required for approaches, for which proposal is under preparation. Regarding two major bridges, it is indicated that they are under construction, but design of one bridge at Subarnarekha River needs to be modified, as per subsoil conditions found during execution of the work.
7. Regarding Package No.-II, physical progress of work is 90% while financial progress is 89.08% as on 15.01.2021. The works of three Vehicular Under Pass (VUP) / Passenger Under Pass (PUP) / Elephant Under Pass (EUP) are under construction. Similarly one major bridge is also under construction. NHAI has pointed out four issues in particular described at Para-6 to 9 in the execution of the work under Package No.-I; first relates to shifting of electric tower by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) which is falling under Right of Way (ROW). Mr. Sinha, Project Director, NHAI informs that the funds demanded by PGCIL have already been deposited. Further compliances from PGCIL are awaited, though NHAI is vigorously pursuing the matter with the Executive Director, PGCIL.
8. In this regard, after due consideration of submission of learned Advocate General and the affidavit of the NHAI, we deem it proper to direct the Executive Director, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), ER-1 HQ, Board Colony, Near Transformer Repair Works, Shastri Nagar, Patna-23 to join the proceedings on the next date to apprise the Court about the progress made in this regard. A web copy of the order shall be served by the Project Director Mr. Ajay Kumar Sinha upon the Executive Director, PGCIL by 02.02.2021. Office shall also communicate the order through e-mail and FAX to the concerned officer.
9. Further statements have been made at Para-7, 8 and 9 of the affidavit regarding certain issues faced by NHAI. At Para-7, it is pointed out that there is an encroachment by a school near Km 16.300, for which District Administration has been requested for its removal; at para-8, it has been stated that there is some obstruction in construction of Vehicular Underpass in village Rajulatu and 1.00 km of road length of Turup village due to protest by local villagers in which action of 4 District Administration is required; further, para-9 indicates that payment of compensation to the villagers of Berwari, Heasal, Neori, etc. in the Ranchi Bye-pass section needs to be expedited by the District Administration. At para-10, it has been stated that NHAI would take appropriate measures in consultation with the State Government regarding road safety measures and deployment of speed guns after completion of the entire stretch of Ranchi-Mahulia section.
10. Learned Advocate General has assured the Court that District Administration will be duly instructed to take necessary measures on these issues concerning Ranchi District Administration. He will also have complete instruction regarding safety measures / deployment of speed guns from the concerned department in consultation with the NHAI by the next date.
11. Third affidavit is by Col. A.S. Kapoor, General Manager (Tech)-cum-Project Director, Project Implementation Unit, National Highways Authority of India, Asanbani, Saraiakella-Kharsawan. This affidavit contains the physical progress of work up to 15.01.2021 by way of a similar table under para-5. Regarding Package No.-III, physical progress is shown as 69.15% while financial progress is 63.10%. Due date of completion has been extended up to 01.07.2021 in terms of EOT sanctioned because of Covid-19. Incomplete works like ROB, VUP, Major Bridge, Toll Plaza, Road Works, etc. are under construction. As regards Package No.-IV, the table under Package No.-IV shows that physical progress is only 35.22% and financial progress is more or less commensurate to that i.e. 33.09%.
12. It appears from the list of incomplete works indicated therein that out of 03 EUP, 02 are under construction; in respect of 02 VUP, De-scoping has been proposed and further, in respect of one flyover also, De-scoping has been proposed. On queries being made, NHAI Project Director Mr. Ajay Kumar Sinha and Col. Kapoor have apprised the Court that De-scoping work relates to the stretch of NH-33 passing the Steel City, Jamshedpur, specifically the stretch from Kalimata Mandir up to Baliguha where there are issues of water pipeline, encroachment, habitation area, warehouses, commercial area, etc. because of which, four laning between km 243+000 to km 250+000 gets reduced considerably. The proposal for elevated corridor over this section has been placed before the NHAI Headquarter. It is expected that a decision thereupon would be taken by the end of March 2021. In this section under Package No.-IV of NH-33, para-7 of the instant affidavit has referred to certain obstructions created because of parking of several brake down vehicles as well as running heavy vehicles between km. 245.00 (Paridih Chowk) to km 254.000 (Triveni Factory). It needs to be removed by the District Administration.
13. Learned Advocate General has assured that the matter will be taken up with the District Administration of East Singhbhum and Saraikella-Kharsawan, as the case 5 may be.
14. A letter bearing no. 6114 dated 30.12.2020 sent by the Superintendent of Police/HOB, CBI, ACB, Ranchi has been placed on record. It contains the charge sheet bearing no. 17/2020 submitted on 30.12.2020 in connection with the FIR being RC 2(A)/2019-R. Charge sheet has been submitted as against three officials of Ranchi Expressways Limited and the Company i.e. Madhucon Projects Limited, Hyderabad, Madhucon Infra Ltd., Hyderabad and Madhucon Toll Highways Ltd, Hyderabad. It further indicates that the investigation is continuing with regard to the roles of other persons and on other points. Learned ASGI submits that further progress in the investigation shall be brought to the Court's notice.
15. We have taken note of the progress report submitted by the officials of NHAI in respect of four Packages in execution under NH-33 in Ranchi-Mahulia Section. We have also taken note of the affidavit of the District Forest Officer regarding compensatory afforestation of trees being felled during widening / expansion / restoration of the road. There are certain issues which have been referred to hereinabove on which, the respective parties are required to submit their response by the next date. NHAI officials should also submit the progress report relating to execution of remaining part of the work under different packages by the next date. Executive Director of PGCIL shall also join the proceedings of the Court on-line on the next date and apprise the Court about the shifting of high tension transmission line falling under Package-I of NH-33.
16. Let the case appear on 10.03.2021 at 2.15 pm. Let a copy of the order be sent through e-mail and FAX to the Executive Director, PGCIL. Let a suitable link be also supplied to the Executive Director, PGCIL for joining the proceedings of the Court on-line on the next date.
(Aparesh Kumar Singh, J) (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J) Ranjeet/