IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

TRANSFER PETITION (C) NOs.435-442 & 444 OF 2008

State of U.P. & Anr.            ...Petitioners

Versus

Gomti Nagar Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti ...Respondents  & Anr., etc. etc.                       

WITH

SUO MOTU CONTEMPT PETITION (C) No.326 OF 2009 IN  

TRANSFER PETITION (C) NOs.438 & 440 OF 2008

In Re:  Gomti Nagar Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti & Ors.

AND  

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (C) NO.9489 OF 2008

State of U.P. & Anr.                   …… Petitioners

Versus

 Gomti Nagar Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti   & Anr.                                …… Respondents

O R D E R

Special Leave Petition (C) No.9489 of 2008 has been filed  

by  the  State  of  U.P.  against  the  interlocutory  order  dated  

04.04.2008 passed by the Division Bench of the Allahabad High  

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Court, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow, in Writ Petition No. 3576 (M/B)  

of 2006 directing the State Government to maintain  status quo  

and not to raise any construction at any place which had been  

notified by the notices filed along with the affidavit dated  

21.02.2008 of Shri Shankar Agarwal, the then Secretary, Housing,  

Government of U.P..  On 21.04.2008, this Court while issuing  

notice  in  the  SLP  also  directed  stay  of  the  impugned  

interlocutory  order  dated  04.04.2008  passed  by  the  Division  

Bench of the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow, and  

further proceedings before the High Court in Writ Petition No  

3576 (M/B) of 2006.   

2.  Transfer Petitions Nos. 435-442 and 444 of 2008 have been  

filed by the State of U.P. for transferring to this Court Writ  

Petitions Nos. 3576 (M/B) of 2006, 3695 (M/B) of 2006, 1368  

(M/B) of 2008, 8430 (M/B) of 2007, 7357 (M/B) of 2007, 9343  

(M/B) of 2007, 8782 (M/B) of 2007, 2841 (M/B) of 2008, and 3236  

(M/B) of 2006 pending before the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow  

Bench, Lucknow, on  inter alia the ground that the question of  

law raised in the writ petitions was the same as the one raised  

in S.L.P. (C) 9489 of 2008.   

3. On 08.09.2009, this Court passed orders in I.A. Nos. 65-66  

of  2009  in  T.P.(C)  Nos.438  &  440  of  2008  recording  the  

undertaking  on  behalf  of  the  State  of  U.P.  that  no  further  

construction over the properties, which are subject-matter of  

the  writ  petitions  pending  before  the  Allahabad  High  Court,  

Lucknow Bench, Lucknow, would be made.  Pursuant to reports in  

the newspapers that some work continued on the properties, this  

Court passed orders in I.A. Nos.65-66 of 2009 in T.P.(C) Nos.438  

& 440 of 2008 directing that all activities of all manner and  

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kinds, whether construction, repair or maintenance, shall stop  

forthwith at all the construction sites covered by the previous  

order of this Court and all the construction sites shall be  

vacated of the entire workforce, excepting the watch and ward  

staff within six hours.   

4.  On  06.10.2009,  this  Court  further  passed  orders  in  

I.A.Nos.65-66  of  2009  in  T.P.(C)  Nos.438  &  440  of  2008  

initiating the contempt proceedings against the Chief Secretary,  

State of U.P., and directing notice to him to show-cause why he  

should not be proceeded against and punished for deliberate and  

conscious violation of the undertaking given to this Court on  

08.09.2009 and of the restraint order passed by this Court on  

11.09.2009 and accordingly suo motu Contempt Petition (C) No.326  

of 2009 has been registered.  On 06.10.2009, this Court also  

passed orders making the interim orders passed on 11.09.2009 in  

I.A. Nos.65-66 of 2009 in T.P.(C) No.438 & 440 of 2008 absolute.

5. We have heard Mr. Harish N. Salve and Mr. R.N. Trivedi,  

learned  counsel  for  the  petitioners  and  Dr.  Abhishek  Manu  

Singhvi, learned counsel for the respondents.  

6. We  are  not  inclined  either  to  interfere  with  the  

interlocutory  order  dated  04.04.2008  passed  by  the  Division  

Bench of the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow, in  

Writ Petition No. 3576 (M/B) of 2006 or to direct transfer of  

the writ petitions pending in the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow  

Bench, to this Court.  We, however, request the Chief Justice,  

Allahabad  High  Court,  to  nominate  as  soon  as  possible  an  

appropriate Bench to hear Writ Petition No. 3576 (M/B) of 2006  

along  with  all  the  Writ  Petitions  which  were  sought  to  be  

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transferred to this Court by the Transfer Petitions (C) Nos.  

435-442  and  444  of  2008  and  we  request  the  Bench  of  the  

Allahabad High Court so nominated to hear and dispose of all  

these matters within a period of four months from the date of  

constitution of the Bench.

7. We had called upon the Chief Secretary, Government of U.P.,  

to file an affidavit indicating the cleaning, maintenance and  

repair work which need to be done during the pendency of the  

writ petitions before the High Court and an affidavit has been  

filed by Shri V.K. Sharma, Acting Chief Secretary, Government of  

U.P., along with the list of works that need to be done in the  

different project sites.  We have perused the list annexed to  

the affidavit of the Acting Chief Secretary, Government of U.P.,  

but we are not inclined to permit the State Government of U.P.  

to carry out all the items of work mentioned in the list annexed  

as Annexure-I.  Instead, we direct that until the writ petitions  

are disposed of by the Bench of the Allahabad High Court to be  

nominated by the Chief Justice, the interim orders which were  

passed by this Court on 11.09.2009 in I.A. Nos. 65-66 of 2009 in  

T.P.(C) Nos.438 & 440 of 2008 and which were made absolute on  

06.10.2009 will continue to be in force.  During the pendency of  

the Writ Petitions in the High Court, the State Government may,  

however, carry out the following works at the different project  

sites listed in Annexure-I to the Affidavit of the Acting Chief  

Secretary, Government of U.P.:

“KANSHIRAM SMARAK STHAL, JAIL ROAD, LUCKNOW

Entrance Plaza

Stone waste is lying at some places on the outer side of the  building; need to be removed.

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Parking Place

Broken  stone  heaps  are  lying  at  some  places;  need  to  be  removed.

Site Development

There are some temporary construction and labour hutment which  are required to be removed.

The saplings of the trees and grass have dried up at some  places.  New Saplings and grass are required to be planted.

The  leakages  in  the  water  supply  line  are  visible  at  some  places; need to be rectified immediately.

The  unutilized  construction  materials  are  required  to  be  removed.

RAMABAI AMBEDKAR MAIDAN (RALLY GROUND)

The unutilized building material and scaffoldings from the area  behind stand to be removed.

DR. BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR STHAL

There are leakages in the water supply line at some places  which need to be plugged immediately.

Some saplings planted in the campus have dried up and hence are  required to be replaced.

There  are  some  temporary  constructions  and  labour  hutments  which are required to be removed.

The  unutilized  construction  materials  are  required  to  be  removed.”

8. In  suo motu Contempt Petition (C) No.326 of 2009, we have  

perused the reply filed by the Chief Secretary, State of U.P., to  

the suo motu notice of contempt and we find that there has been  

no construction of any kind after 11.09.2009.  We, therefore,  

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discharge the  suo motu notice of contempt issued to the Chief  

Secretary, Government of U.P.

9. With this order, the Special Leave Petition, the Transfer  

Petitions  and  the  Contempt  Petition  stand  disposed  of.   The  

interim order dated 21.04.008 passed by this Court in Special  

Leave Petition (C) No.9489 of 2008 is vacated.  No costs.  We  

clarify that this order will not affect the proceedings in any  

other Special Leave Petition or Civil Appeals pending in this  

Court.   

....................J   (Harjit Singh Bedi)

....................J   (A. K. Patnaik)

  New Delhi,    February 09, 2010.    

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