SC refuses to transfer corruption cases of R&R in Sardar

The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea seeking to transfer before it cases of alleged corruption arising out of resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) of families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) on river Narmada.
A bench comprising justices T S Thakur and Adarsh Kumar Goel said that the Madhya Pradesh High Court shall continue to hear those cases.
The Narmada Control Authority (NCA), which is monitoring the development of project and related issues, had sought transfer of PIL filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on alleged corruption in R&R associated with SSP from the high court to the apex court.

NCA, which is under the Union Ministry of Water Resources, had filed the petition seeking transfer of the seven-year-old PIL filed by NBA alleging massive corruption in R&R.
The bench, however, clarified that the high court would not hear the plea filed by NBA against raising of height of the Sardar Sarovar Project dam and granted liberty to NBA to approach the Supreme Court for suitable directions.
The authority had also sought transfer of an interim application filed by NBA, challenging its decision of June 12, 2014, to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar Project, for further directions.
Counsel for NBA, Sanjay Parekh contended that till this day, 2.5 lakh project oustees are yet to be rehabilitated and thousands of un-rehabilitated families under the present dam height of 122 metres itself, have become a victim of corruption and state neglect.