Allahabad High Court dismisses PIL against Taj expressway

IndlawNews.com Saturday, March 15, 2008The Allahabad High Courthas dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the mega Agra-Greater Noida Taj Expressway Project of the Uttar Pradesh government.The order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice H L Gokhle and Justice Vinit Saran on a PIL filed by Ashutosh Srivastava.The petitioner had prayed to declare the concession agreement entered in between the Taj Expressway authority and J P Industries Limited as null and void.He had also prayed for a CBI probe into the entire Taj Expressway Project. It was alleged by the petitioner that gross financial irregularities had been committed on state government level, which executed the agreement to appease a particular private company.Earlier, the petitioner had challenged for a mandamus for production of the report of the commission of inquiry in the case headed by Justice (retired) Sidhesdhwar Narain.On the High Court's direction, the commission's report was produced by the state respondents, along with, a short counter affidavit. Friday, March 14, 2008 UNI