The High Court has pulled up the State government for permission granted to controversial South African businessmen brothers Ajay and Atul Gupta to hold the weddings of their sons at ecologically sensitive skiing destination Auli near Joshimath. Hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL), the court asked how and who granted permission for the weddings to be held at this location. The court has also directed the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) to inspect the site and submit a status report on Tuesday.

The Gupta brothers are organising an extravagant wedding function at Auli purportedly at a cost of Rs 200 crore. Hearing the PIL filed by advocate Rakshit Joshi, the division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Alok Kumar Verma asked those holding the marriage whether they had deposited Rs five crore for cleaning and compensating for the damage caused to the environment. The counsel representing the event organisers said that they had been granted permission by the municipal council and that they had deposited a sum of Rs 30 lakh with the government.

The marriage programme is to be held from June 18 to 22 for which a number of tents have been put up to accommodate guests apart from a helipad facilitated at the site. The court remarked that if the amount for cleaning of the venue is not deposited, approval to the programme will have to be reconsidered. Asking the government who accorded permission for the event, the court also asked whether marriages had been held at Auli in the past and whether the helipad was already there.

The division bench further asked whether Auli is a bugyal (high altitude alpine meadow) and stated that if it is, this would constitute contempt of earlier orders of the high court prohibiting night stays on bugyals. The UEPPCB has also been directed to inspect the site and inform the court on Tuesday regarding the damage caused to the environment.