The division bench of the Bombay High Court today recused itself from hearing the petition filed by Lavasa Corporation against the environment and forest ministry’ notice.
The bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and S J Kathawala was hearing the petition which challenged the show cause notice issued by the ministry to Lavasa alleging it had not secured environmental clearances before starting construction activity in the area spread over 5,000 hectares.
However, Chief Justice Shah today informed the lawyer that he will not hear the case as one of his relatives was working with a legal firm that is advising Lavasa Corporation with regard to its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The hearing will now resume only when the Chief Justice assigns the matter to another bench.
On November 25, the ministry had issued a showcause notice to Lavasa, demanding an explanation as to why it did not obtain clearances as per rules under Environment Protection Act, amended by notifications in 1994 and 2004.
It also asked the corporation, which is developing a hill station in Mulshi taluka of Pune district, to stop the ongoing construction.
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HCC ties up with VINCI unit for infra projects
Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) has signed a cooperation agreement with VINCI Construction Grands Projets (VCGP), the infrastructure construction arm of VINCI, to work on identified power, water, transportation and infrastructure projects in India and other countries.
The proposed 2x1,650 megawatts European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) of Areva, France, at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, is a targeted joint project under the agreement, where the two companies will collaborate to participate in the construction of the project in a value-added approach.
HCC has built over 50 per cent of India’s installed nuclear capacity. VCGP is already engaged in the development of EPR programme with Areva France.
“This association will further strengthen HCC’s capabilities to execute the engineering and construction of nuclear power plants with value-added knowledge support from VCGP. The cooperation agreement shall also focus on similar infrastructure opportunities, especially in water and power sectors, in Saarc (South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation) countries,” said a company statement.
HCC’s wholly-owned infrastructure development subsidiary, HCC Concessions Ltd, has also signed partnership agreements with VINCI Concessions SAS to partner on selected public-private partnership projects in India to develop, operate and maintain some large infrastructure assets.
The two companies are working together on the first $1-billion “Mega” highways project, involving the six-laning of Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad.
Franck Thevenin, VCGP India director, said, “With GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth of nine per cent and continuing reforms by the government of India, the nuclear power programme, including the planned EPRs at Jaitapur, is a key market of interest for VCGP. HCC has a strong presence in the Indian nuclear programme to date as well as all other major infrastructure verticals, which make them ideal partners for us when we seek to add value in the Indian nuclear programme.”