Now, NPCC wants its pound of flesh

LUCKNOW: After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry, it now seems to be the turn of the National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC), a government of India enterprise, to legally challenge the UP government for stopping release of payments against the work done by it on the controversial Rs 175 crore Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) project.
The NPCC has filed a writ before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court seeking to quash the state government order of June 19, 2003 to stop the work on the project and the release of money against the work already done by it. The writ which has been admitted by the court is listed for hearing in the third week of August. However, the court has entertained the plea for release of fund but has left the issue relating to resumption of work. The court in its observation said that the issue should be left to the Supreme Court, which is directly monitoring the project.
The NPCC has so far received a sum of Rs 17 crore from the state government in two instalments on November 8 and November 23 in 2002. Thereafter, no fund has been released following the controversy over the project and the subsequent Supreme Court order to CBI to set up an inquiry.
The NPCC in its writ has pleaded that the government’s order for stopping the payments to it was totally illegal, arbitrary, unjustified and unreasonable and therefore it was liable to be set aside.
In the writ, counsel LP Mishra, has prayed that his client, the NPCC was not at fault at all, as it executed the work assigned to it after the clearance of the government and hence stopping payment was nothing but a case of harassment.
The NPCC was engaged by the mission management board (MMB) set up under the chairmanship of chief secretary, UP following the Supreme Court order dated 31/5/1999 in the case of MC Mehta versus Union of India and others in 1996 for environment improvement and protection of Taj Mahal. The MMB at its meeting held in Agra on August 4, 2002 approved the Taj heritage corridor project and assigned it to the NPCC, which prepared the techno feasibility report and the detailed project report for it on November 1, 2002.
Another meeting of the MMB was held on October 12,2002 again in Agra in which it approved the estimates submitted by the NPCC. The NPCC on February 2, 2003 asked for a Rs 50 crore for carrying out the work smoothly and in a systematic manner. But as against this, the government had released only Rs 17 crore.