Himachal Pradesh High Court fines Rs 100 cr on Jaiprakash Associates

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has fined Rs 100-crore on Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) for violating environmental laws and regulations and resorting to 'falsehood to mislead' the government for establishing a cement facility in Solan district of the state.

It also rejected the environment nod for establishing a 25-MW thermal plant in the location of cement plant and also ordered the plant be dismantled within a time span of two weeks.

The green bench of the High Court including Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol stated that JAL had given wrong information about the cost of the cement plant project and also claimed that it was below Rs 100 crore to skip the clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests whereas the actual price of the project was over Rs 417 crore.

Moreover, the bench passed the orders on a petition which was filed by Him Parivesh Environment Protection Society.