HC refuses to lift stay on KVK Nilachal Power

The Odisha High Court on Monday refused to vacate its interim order of maintaining status quo with regard to construction of the power plant being set up by KVK Nilachal Power near Athagarh in Cuttack district.

Earlier, the construction work of the thermal power plant had come to a halt with the High Court imposing restrictions on it. The court today directed the National Board of Wildlife to decide on the application filed by the company within two weeks and send the report to the court, said Aditya Dash, counsel for the petitioner. The court has further directed the Union Minister of Environment and Forest and state Chief Secretary to submit all the relevant records relating to lack of forest and wild life clearance to the power company, he added.

 

The division bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice SK Mishra had passed the interim order in May on a petition seeking judicial intervention against construction of the power project on the ground that it was being undertaken in violation of wildlife protection norms. The petition was filed Charidesha Krushak Surakhya Sangh represented by its president, Narayan Sahu.

KVK Nilachal Power is to set up 1400MW (4X350 MW) coal-based power project at Kandarai near Athagarh in two phases. The total land requirement is around 984 acres, which involves nearly 158 acres of forest land.