Above: Eastern Peripheral Expressway
The Supreme Court on Thursday said on Thursday (May10), that much-delayed Eastern Peripheral Expressway must be thrown open to the public on June 1, whether the prime minister has the time to inaugurate it or not. The court said people “can’t wait indefinitely for the prime minister [to inaugurate it].”
This is the second time within a week when important government work had been held up due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s “other commitments”. On May 8, when the top court asked Attorney general K K Venugopal about the Centre’s failure to comply with the court’s orders to approve the Cauvery management board for sharing of water, Venugopal had said that the scheme was ready but could not be approved as the Cabinet was in Karnataka (campaigning for the elections).
As per an NDTV report, Modi finished his UK, China tours and headed straight for Karnataka for the May 12 polls.
On Thursday the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) counsel told the apex court that PM Modi was supposed to inaugurate the project on April 29, but it was cancelled due to prior commitments last month.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said that even if the prime minister could not inaugurate the expressway by then, any further delay will not be in the interest of the people.
—India Legal Bureau