Uttarakhand High Court
Mohd. Ayub Khan & Anr. .....Petitioners vs State Of Uttarakhand & Ors on 15 February, 2019
Author: Lok Pal Singh
Bench: Lok Pal Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
Writ Petition (M/S) No.365 of 2019
Mohd. Ayub Khan & Anr. .....Petitioners
Versus
State of Uttarakhand & Ors. ..... Respondents
Hon'ble Lok Pal Singh, J.
Mr. Siddhartha Singh, Advocate for the petitioners.
Mr. Anurag Bisaria, Standing Counsel accepts notice on behalf of State/respondent nos.1 and 2.
Mr. Rahul Consul, Advocate accepts notice on behalf of respondent nos.3 and 10.
Mr. Naresh Pant, Advocate accepts notice on behalf of respondent nos.4 to 9.
Mr. B.C. Pandey, Senior Advocate along with Mr. Naman Kamboj, Advocate appears for respondent nos.11 and 12.
In the earlier round of litigation, petitioners filed a writ petition before this Court being WPMS No.3279 of 2016, which was however dismissed as withdrawn by the Court vide order dated 08.05.2017. Thereafter petitioners filed another writ petition being WPMS No.2963 of 2017, wherein the Court initially directed the parties to maintain status quo as regards old electricity poles and wires, but subsequently, when the matter came up for final hearing, the Court dismissed the writ petition with a cost of Rs.5,000/-, whereagainst the petitioners preferred special appeal before the Division Bench of this Court being SPA No.631 of 2018. The Division Bench, vide its order 2 dated 09.08.2018, allowed the appeal and the remitted the matter back to the learned Single Judge to decide the matter on its merit. After passing of the order, the Coordinate Bench, after hearing the parties afresh, vide judgment dated 05.10.2018, disposed of the writ petition, thereby constituting a Committee of three members comprising Vice Chairman, M.D.D.A., District Magistrate, Dehradun and an Executive Engineer of U.P.C.L to look into the matter and to pass an order within a period of six weeks.
Learned counsel for the petitioners would invite attention of this Court to Annexure No.1 to the writ petition, which is a letter addressed to Chief Standing Counsel, High Court of Uttarakhand, Nainital by District Magistrate, Dehradun, dated 08.01.2019, which indicates that in compliance of the order dated 05.10.2018 passed by this Court old existing high tension electric line has been shifted at a common place.
Learned counsel would further invite attention of this Court to Annexure No.17, which is a single line diagram for shifting of 33KV transmission lines prepared by respondent no.5 wherein only two houses have been shown under the existing lines, but now in the proposed route, five turns were shown making the proposed route in "U" shape.
It has been apprised by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the expenses incurred in installing the new electric line are being borne by the State Government and the Electricity Departments.
Upon hearing the learned counsel for the parties, the Court finds that the directions issued in order 3 dated 05.10.2018 has not been complied with by the respondents in letter and spirit.
In such circumstances, it is directed that the Members of the Committee, which was constituted as per the directions of the order dated 05.10.2018, shall file their personal affidavits indicating as to why they have not fully complied with the directions issued by this Court. Respondent nos.1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 shall also file their counter affidavits with precision and clarity. Such affidavits shall be filed within a period of three weeks.
List thereafter.
Meanwhile, it is provided, as an interim measure, that the position of old existing electric line shall not be changed. (Stay application CLMA No.1777 of 2019 is disposed of).
Let a certified copy of the order be issued to learned counsel for the parties, today itself, on payment of usual charges.
(Lok Pal Singh, J.) 15.02.2019 Rajni