New Delhi: The Supreme Court, Monday, deferred the hearing in the controversial Indirasagar (Polavaram) project by a week following the request made by the state of Odisha. The case was listed for hearing, February 4.
A two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices NV Ramana and V Ramasubramanian also permitted the counsel appearing for state to file a rejoinder in response to the affidavits filed by the state of Andhra Pradesh.
“Advocate-on-Record appearing for the State of Orissa stated that the original suit is listed for hearing February 4, 2020 and prayed for one week’s adjournment.
In view of the request made, the matter is adjourned for one week. Orissa is permitted to file a rejoinder affidavit in the matter and the Registry is directed to accept the same if it is found to be in order in all respects,” the bench said.
The state sought adjournment of the matter due to unavailability of the senior counsel arguing for Odisha in the matter.
Earlier, the apex court had asked the state of Andhra Pradesh to file a status report regarding the construction of Polavaram project with photographs.
The court had also asked the state of Odisha to file its rejoinder in response to the affidavits filed by Andhra Pradesh and the Union government in reply to the interim application of Odisha opposing the Union government’s decision to put a ‘stop work’ order on the Polavaram project. It has granted two weeks time to Odisha for filing the rejoinder.
It is to be mentioned here that Odisha has filed an original suit in the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to build multipurpose Polavaram project on Godavari River citing the project will lead to submergence of huge areas in the state and many tribal people will lose their homes and land. During the hearings, Odisha has said that due process of environment clearance for the project has not been followed. Thus it demanded a ban on the construction of Polavaram project.
