Uttarakhand pre-empts HC ruling; cancels 56 hydel projects

The Uttarakhand government on Friday cancelled the allotment of 56 hydroelectric projects in the state, hours before the high court was scheduled to hear a public interest litigation on alleged irregularities in the allotment process.

Fresh bids would now be called for the projects, under the self-identified route. The government said letters of award issued for the projects to different companies now stand 'redundant'. The remaining bids have also been cancelled.

The 56 hydroelectric projects were slated to have a total power generation capacity of 963 MW. These projects were initiated in 2008, when B C Khanduri was the chief minister. The fate of tghe projects now hangs in the balance.

Following the state government's decision, a two-judge bench of the Uttarakhand high court dismissed a PIL jointly filed by Delhi-based Ashwini Kumar Sharma and an Almora-based non-governmental organisation, the Uttarakhand Janhitkari Manch, in the second week of June. Observers said the government stepped in a day before the case was to come up in the court as it feared adverse judicial observations on the projects.

Taking cognizance of the state government's cancellation of the allotment of projects, a division bench of the high court comprising justices P C Pant and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the PIL was infructuous.

However, the division bench said the NGO could file a PIL again on the matter in case any irregularities are detected in future, counsel for the petitioner Gopal Krishna Verma said.