HC rejects petition on hydel projects

Hours after the Uttarakhand government cancelled allotment of controversial hydropower projects to various companies, Uttarakhand High Court today dismissed a PIL demanding a CBI probe into the allocations as infructuous.

Taking cognizance of the state government's cancellation of the allotment of projects, a division bench of the high court comprising Justice P C Pant and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said the PIL was infructuous.

However, the division bench said the petitioner Jan Hakdari Manch, an Almora-based NGO, could file a PIL again on the matter in case any irregularities are detected in future, counsel for the petitioner Gopal Krishna Verma said.

The petitioner had alleged widespread irregularities in the entire allotment process and prayed for a CBI probe into it.

However, as soon as the court took up the hearing, Advocate General S N Babulkar and special counsel K N Tripathi apprised the bench of the state government's decision of cancelling the allotments.

After hearing their arguments, the court dismissed the petition as infructuous, said Verma.