High Court pushes stop button on new construction at Victoria

On September 28,2007 the High Court had banned any further construction inside the Victoria Memorial complex,following which the memorial authority had filed a petition in February 2009 to allow them to construct a new administrative building.

The Victoria Memorial Authority said in its petition that they had received a proposal from Tarcentenary Committee,a London-based NGO,for construction of a new building. The new building would cover 2800 sq mt and the administrative department of the memorial would be shifted there. Apart from this a conference hall,auditorium and other facilities would be set up in the new building.

Opposing the plea,environmentalist Subhas Dutta filed a petition arguing that the proposed administrative building could be constructed at a separate place. According to the Victorial Memorial Hall Act,1903 there was no bar on any other construction in a separate place,Dutta said in his petition.

The High Court today reiterated that instead of making new construction,the authority should develop a green belt.

“The High Court had passed several orders in the last seven years to protect the beautiful historical structure. If the court allows new construction in the complex,it would frustrate the previous orders passed by the High Court,” the Division Bench said today.

Order on ban of old vehicles reserved
On the plea of the state government,the Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on the banning of 15-year-old vehicles,reserving the order to be passed on Thursday.

The state environment department had issued a notification on July 17,2008 banning 15-year-old vehicles from running in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) from April 1,2009. Upholding the notification,the High Court had extended the deadline to July 31.

The court passed an interim order on March 15 that only four-stroke LPG auto-rickshaws would be allowed to run in Kolkata after July 31. During the final hearing on Friday,environmentalist Subhas Dutta pleaded that the HC order was not properly executed and people were inconvenienced for lack of public transport. The court should ask for a status report from the state government on the implementation of the court’s order,he added. The ban on 15-year-old public vehicles in KMA has been in force from August 1.

The Kolkata Auto-Rickshaw Operators’ Union,meanwhile,filed a petition alleging that the state transport department did not act according to the court’s order. In its July 18,2008 order,the High Court had allowed all registered autos to convert to four-stroke LPG mode. But the transport department later said only the conversion of autos manufactured after August 1,2000 would be allowed.