Calcutta High Court

Calcutta, April 21: Calcutta High Court today vacated its interim order that had brought work on National Highway 31 in Jalpaiguri to a halt, saying the judiciary should not be a hindrance to development.

Justice Dipankar Dutta also directed the petitioner of the case to pay a fine of Rs 3,400 .

High court lawyers said today’s verdict was significant for two reasons.

“First, the order will set a precedent in cases involving development work. The penalty on the petitioner will restrain others from creating disturbances in development work by filing cases.

“Second, the verdict comes at a time almost all state ministers have been publicly criticising the court for its injunctions on several development works across Bengal,” advocate Sailendu Rakshit said.

Shyamalmoy Pal and Company, a private firm, had moved the high court in February this year, challenging the process of calling tenders by the public works department (PWD) for the development of a stretch of NH 31 in Jalpaiguri.

In its petition, the company had alleged that while selecting the company for assigning the Rs 58-crore project, the PWD had not followed its own guidelines.

“The bidders were not called in presence of the superintendent engineer, which is a must in any tender process,” the petition had said.

Justice Dutta had passed an interim injunction in March this year restraining the government from proceeding with the tender process.

When the hearing resumed in the first week of April, the government’s junior standing counsel, Subrata Mukhopadhyay, told the judge that the company’s allegation was “absolutely untrue”.

“The petitioner and the superintendent engineer had been called for the bidding but neither turned up,” Mukhopadhyay said.

He also cited a recent Supreme Court judgment saying courts should not issue injunction orders on development works. “Such injunctions hamper development of the country,” the lawyer said.

After hearing both sides, the court had adjourned the verdict, which was delivered today.