The State government has not shared any information with Railways regarding the social impact assessment or any other survey related to the K-Rail project, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) has informed the Kerala High Court.
In his oral submission before the court on Friday, ASG S. Manu stated that divisional railway authorities had no official information about the survey. The Railways, however, had informed the State government no stones shall be laid in its holdings.
The ASG made the submissions before the court based on the information provided by the divisional railway officials. The response of the Railway Board to the survey and the project is yet to be obtained, the ASG informed the court.
Decision after DPR
The ASG also said a decision on the project will be taken only after evaluating the Detailed Project Report (DPR). The question of financial clearance for the project arises only after considering the DPR, he informed the court.
Justice Devan Ramachandran had sought information on whether the Centre had taken a decision on the K-Rail project. The court had also sought to know whether the Centre had cleared the social impact assessment survey, while considering a batch of petitions challenging the laying of survey stones.
The court orally observed that the absence of prior notice for the survey and the forceful fixing of yellow survey stones had scared people. The State government shall make its stand clear on these aspects, the court observed.
State govt. stand
Senior government lawyer T.B. Hood informed the court that there were practical issues involved in issuing prior notice for the survey. The yellow stones were being laid as part of the social impact assessment. There were no restrictions on pledging the holdings where the yellow survey stones were laid for availing of loans from financial institutions, the lawyer informed the court.
The court observed that apprehensions existed among some sections of society on the possible denial of loans and hence it was seeking clarification from the government. The court posted the case for orders.
