Cuttack, Sept. 13: Orissa High Court has fixed November 1 as deadline to start construction of the State Transport Appellate Tribunal and the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) building in Cuttack and rapped the state government for delaying the work for over a year.

“The division bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice Sanju Panda directed the Odisha transport department secretary to expedite approval of the plan and budgetary estimate to complete tender process for the construction within a month and start it from November 1,” amicus curiae Pravat Ranjan Dash told The Telegraph today.

The court had registered suo motu a PIL on the basis of a report submitted by its registrar (administration), expressing concern over piling up of thousands of cases at the three MACTs in Odisha owing to lack of infrastructure. Consequently, litigants were being forced to undergo untold miseries.

The court appointed the amicus curiae in March last year to study the conditions in which the three MACTs in Sambalpur, Berhampur and Cuttack were functioning after the Odisha government did not submit a status report on them.

On July 11, the court was told that the roads & buildings wing of the works department was assigned the construction. It then summoned the roads & buildings wing (Cuttack) executive engineer Rabindra Nath Sahu to appear in person and explain why the construction had not started.

Sahu yesterday appeared in court and stated that the building plan, along with a budget estimate of Rs 3.69 crore, had been submitted for administrative approval.

The court is monitoring infrastructure development in respect of MACT in Cuttack. At present, both the tribunals are functioning on rented premises at Section 7 at Markatnagar, the satellite township being developed by the Cuttack Development Authority in the Bidanasi Housing Project area.

Last year, the court directed the development authority to allot land for the tribunals’ building. The development authority allotted 15,006sqft at Sector 1 of the Bidanasi Housing Project area in favour of commerce and transport department at Rs 1,208 per square foot.

On August 2 last year, the court directed the commerce and transport department to take possession of the land and proceed with the construction. But, when the case came up on August 29, the transport department stated that the construction had been entrusted with the R&B wing.