SRINAGAR: The Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court has dismissed the petition seeking to stop the government from constructing a skewed bridge over river Jhelum in Srinagar.
The Judges, including Chief Justice MM Kumar, have observed that the concerns regarding environment and ecology raised by the petitioners are not genuine.
The skewed bridge is being constructed near the Presentation Convent School, Raj Bagh.
The Court has observed that when a project is undertaken and crores of public money is spent, the petitioner “in the garb of PIL cannot be permitted to challenge the policy decision.”
“The plea about the viability of the bridge or its location and its technical aspects cannot be allowed to be raised by those who, admittedly, have no know how about the engineering aspects of the matter,” it said.
Their endeavor, acting as proxy, is to protect the so-called interests of the (Convent) school without minding about the larger interests of the populace. The environmental and ecological concerns …raised are merely aimed at giving this petition a colour of public interest litigation
The Government had told the court that the construction of the bridge had been envisaged in the Master Plan 1971-91 and that the project cannot be seen as a violation of the Master Plan.
“Moreover, 30 percent of the work on the bridge has already been completed and Rs 9.91 crore stands expended,” it said, according to an official spokesman.
The Court in its judgment has also observed that many private schools like Mallinson, (girls) school, Biscoe school, Burn Hall school and Delhi Public School are all located in built up areas which have continuous flow of traffic and movement of large number of people.
“But they do not hinder any development work undertaken around these schools, nor do they complain of any disturbance in studies or raise any security concerns.”
The PIL has been filed senior advocate Zaffar A Shah on behalf of the petitioners including Advocate Aftab Hilali Shah of Sanat Nagar, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi of Sonawar Bazar (teacher), Abdul Jalil Khan, Qurat-ul-Ain (teacher) and Zarif Ahmed Zarif (poet).
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“The fundamental question that arises for consideration is whether the petitioners are really espousing a public cause in the petition,” the court said.
“Their endeavor, acting as proxy, is to protect the so-called interests of the School without minding about the larger interests of the populace. The environmental and ecological concerns sought to be raised are merely aimed at giving this petition a colour of public interest litigation”, the Court ruled.
While dismissing the petitions, the Court observed that no grounds have been found to entertain the petition and dismissed it along with the connected CMPs with cost of Rs. 50,000 to be equally borne by the petitioners and paid within one month.
