ROURKELA: The court of the civil judge (senior division), Rourkela, has rejected a petition by the National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NIT-R) to drop a civil suit seeking a stay on felling of trees for campus expansion.
The court after hearing both sides on October 8 ordered, “The grounds taken by the Defendant 1 (NIT-R) for rejection of the plaint is not found to be sustainable in the eye of law. Resultantly, the petition of the Defendant 1 and adopted by all defendants is rejected having no such merit.” The court put up the case for November 6, asking the NIT-R and five other defendants to file written statements.
The civil suit was filed in June by Delhi-based advocate Bashistha Ray and two others. In the main petition it was prayed to declare the permission given by the Rourkela DFO (Divisional Forest Officer) to NIT-R to fell 1,872 trees for a construction project as null and void.
Two separate interim applications were also attached. One application sought ex parte interim stay and other application sought interim stay, both for restriction on felling of trees. Earlier, the court refused to give ex parte stay order.
Before hearing of the second application, the NIT-R filed a petition on July 6 for rejection of the civil suit, claiming it is not maintainable.
The rejection of the NIT-R petition paves the way for hearing of the civil suit. Contacted, NIT-R registrar Prof. Rohan Dhiman said the institute would take appropriate action of getting the true copy of the court order.
NIT-R plans to construct a Civil Engineering department building with a total plinth area of 28,000 square metres. In the first phase, construction would be taken up over 16,000 square metres at an estimated cost of `91 crore.