Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Orissa HC stays shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar
(Thanks to Sachi and a journalist from Orissa for sending this in)
Orissa HC stays shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar
By Pradip Das
Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday stayed the shifting of the proposed National Institute of Science(NIS) from Bhubaneswar to West Bengal. “We direct for the stay of the proposed science institution from Bhubaneswar to any other place in eastern zone of the country”, ordered a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Ray and Justice M M Das. Adjudicating over a PIL on the issue, the court directed that until the disposal of the case, shifting of NIS would not take place. It further asked both the Union government and the state government to file counters to the petition within four weeks. The matter is likely to be taken up by the court after one month, said the petitioner advocate Madhusudan Panda. The petitioner has stated that there have been malafide intensions and political considerations by the present UPA government at the Center in shifting the proposed institution from Orissa to West Bengal. “While the previous NDA government at Center had allotted the NIS to Bhubaneswar in eastern zone, the present UPA government is shifting it to West Bengal to keep the Communists, on whom the Manmohan Singh government is heavily dependant, in good humor as the neighbouring state is going to polls next year”, Panda argued. He said, already there have been a lot of regional imbalances created among the states in eastern zone and Orissa is a victim of it. The state doesn’t have a single national educational institute of repute. “If the NIS is allowed to be shifted from Bhubaneswar to any other part, Orissa would suffer from a great regional disparity”, he contended. The state government represented through its chief secretary and an opposite party in the case has however, informed the court that the government has already lodged its objections before the Union government over the proposed shifting of the NIS. The state government’s letter to the court said: “following the announcement to set up the NIS atBhubaneswar in the year 2003, an area of 75 acres of land near Utkal University in capital was made available for the purpose as per the requirement of University grants Commission (UGC). But after that, there has been no communication either from the Union science and technology ministry or from UGC over the setting up of the Rs 100 crore institute”, the lettersaid. (EOM)
Orissa HC stays shifting of NIS from Bhubaneswar
By Pradip Das
Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday stayed the shifting of the proposed National Institute of Science(NIS) from Bhubaneswar to West Bengal. “We direct for the stay of the proposed science institution from Bhubaneswar to any other place in eastern zone of the country”, ordered a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Ray and Justice M M Das. Adjudicating over a PIL on the issue, the court directed that until the disposal of the case, shifting of NIS would not take place. It further asked both the Union government and the state government to file counters to the petition within four weeks. The matter is likely to be taken up by the court after one month, said the petitioner advocate Madhusudan Panda. The petitioner has stated that there have been malafide intensions and political considerations by the present UPA government at the Center in shifting the proposed institution from Orissa to West Bengal. “While the previous NDA government at Center had allotted the NIS to Bhubaneswar in eastern zone, the present UPA government is shifting it to West Bengal to keep the Communists, on whom the Manmohan Singh government is heavily dependant, in good humor as the neighbouring state is going to polls next year”, Panda argued. He said, already there have been a lot of regional imbalances created among the states in eastern zone and Orissa is a victim of it. The state doesn’t have a single national educational institute of repute. “If the NIS is allowed to be shifted from Bhubaneswar to any other part, Orissa would suffer from a great regional disparity”, he contended. The state government represented through its chief secretary and an opposite party in the case has however, informed the court that the government has already lodged its objections before the Union government over the proposed shifting of the NIS. The state government’s letter to the court said: “following the announcement to set up the NIS atBhubaneswar in the year 2003, an area of 75 acres of land near Utkal University in capital was made available for the purpose as per the requirement of University grants Commission (UGC). But after that, there has been no communication either from the Union science and technology ministry or from UGC over the setting up of the Rs 100 crore institute”, the lettersaid. (EOM)
# posted by chitta @ 7:36 AM 
