Cuttack, Sept. 11: Orissa High Court has asked the state government to submit all records related to its recommendation to the Centre - on the basis of which Bhubaneswar and Rourkela were nominated as smart cities.
The court fixed the September 10 deadline after the state government failed to file show cause why Cuttack could not be nominated for smart city in responses to notices issued on August 28. But it has again sought time till September 14.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that had sought its intervention against non-inclusion of Cuttack in the list of places to be developed as the smart cities.
"The division bench of Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Biswanath Rath will hear the matter on Monday, along with the records related to the state government's recommendation to the centre for smart cities," said advocate Ashok Mohapatra, who had filed the PIL.
The court expected the state government to submit the records by then "positively", Mohapatra, who is president of the High Court Bar Association, has filed the petition as chairman of Cuttack Smart City Action Committee.
The petition sought quashing of the state housing and urban development department's recommendation, on the basis of which Bhubaneswar and Rourkela were nominated.
Apart from alleging that the recommendation was based on "wrong evaluation", the petition also expected the court to "set aside" the central government's smart city list order - in which Cuttack was missing.
According to the petition, the percentage scoring reported by the department on July 28 to the urban development ministry was "wrong" and "illegal". The "illegal evaluation" had pushed Cuttack out of the two slots for smart cities from Odisha, the PIL contended. Proper evaluation, according to the Government of India guidelines, will put Cuttack on top of the list of five cities - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur - which were taken into consideration, the petition claimed.
Alleging the wrong evaluation, the committee had submitted memorandums to the Prime Minister, Union minister for urban development, joint secretary and the director of the Smart City Mission on August 24.