SMC restrained from demolishing HPCA's cricket academy

In an interim relief to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), a local court here restrained Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) from demolishing its cricket academy at Lalpani.
The association, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, got the respite after Additional District and Sessions Judge (Shimla) Rajesh Tomar passed the order yesterday.
The SMC had served a notice to HPCA on January 8, maintaining that the academy was an "illegal structure" raised on green belt without clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
SMC Commissioner Amarjit, in a detailed notice, gave seven days' time to HPCA to raze the building and also to disconnect the water and power supply to it.

The Commissioner had sent a notice to HPCA on October 8, 2013 and passed the order after going through the reply of the HPCA.
In his order, the Commissioner had said that "he was fully convinced that the building was unauthorised".
In its appeal, the HPCA had accused the Commissioner of acting under political pressure.
The restraining order will stand till the next hearing of the case on February 25.