The Odisha High Court on Thursday concluded analogous hearing of as many as 16 petitions which have challenged the land acquisition process and environmental clearance of the proposed KVK Nilachal Power Plant in Athagarh subdivision of Cuttack district.
The High Court in May 2012 after admitting the petitions had slapped a stay on construction of the `6,300-crore project, which is planned to come up in an area of over 900 acres in Kandarei village of Athagarh.
A Division Bench of Justices BN Mohapatra and Indrajit Mahanti concluding the hearing reserved its verdict to be pronounced on a later date which will decide the fate of the 1400-MW coal-based power plant.
It may be recalled that while rejecting a plea to modify its May 2012 order, the High Court had suggested the company to approach the National Board of Wildlife to seek relief on environment clearance.
But instead of approaching the Wildlife Board, the company had preferred to renew its prayer for vacating the stay order. While the original PIls filed in this regard by some peasants of the areas have questioned the faulty land acquisition process, a few other petitions were filed later questioning the environmental and forest clearance of the project.