Saving water bodies or a High Court building in lucknow is the big question facing the Supreme Court. A PIl against encroachments on water bodies in Uttar Pradesh has alleged that the new High Court complex at lucknow stands illegally on a water body and must go as per an apex court order of 2001.
The PIl was pending before the lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court since 2013 but after the inauguration of the new High Court building in March 2016, the petitioners who filed the PIl have approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case either to the apex court or the National Green Tribunal.
In the transfer petition, the petitioners, two lucknow-based activists — Ashok Shankaram and Neeraj Pandey — said that their fight to save and revive 37 ponds in and around lucknow cannot be heard by the High Court since it is a beneficiary of the encroachment. A total of 40 acres of land was allotted by the State land owning agencies to the High Court at Vibhuti Khand, where a sprawling court complex comprising courtrooms, lawyers’ chambers, library and other modern facilities has come up at a cost of Rs 1,300 crore.
A RTI query by the petitioners indicated that a portion of the new HC building is situated on a pond situated in Khasra no 52 of village Vijaipur. Besides the HC, two other structures have also come up on the land that once was a pond.
The petition, filed by advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi, has added to the Supreme Court’s woes as it pointed out that the building has come up in violation of the law laid down by the apex court. It cited a July 2001 decision of Hinch lal Tiwari v Kamala Devi where the court had directed demolition of a construction raised on a land which was shown to be a pond as per Government records.
With the HC itself at fault, the petition stated, “Since the issue involved directly relates to lucknow High Court Bench and therefore being a beneficiary party in the matte of Writ Petition being adjudicated by them, it would not be appropriate that the said writ be decided by the lucknow Bench of the High Court.”