Bilaspur: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the High Court regarding the expansion of a 33 KV power line in the elephant-affected Dharamjaigarh forest area of Raigarh district, alleging violations of rules and standards. The High Court has issued notices to the Central Government, the State Government, and the power company, seeking their responses.
One week granted to the State Government to file a response
During the hearing, counsel representing the State and Central governments accepted the notices, while instructions were issued to serve notice to the private company in accordance with procedure. The State Government sought additional time to submit its response. The Court granted the State Government one week to file its reply and permitted the petitioner to file a rejoinder within one week of receiving that response. It was also noted during the hearing that the private company had already submitted its response; the Court allowed the petitioner to submit a counter-response to that reply as well. The next hearing on the PIL has been scheduled for July 13, 2026.
Allegations of proceeding without forest clearance
The petition states that non-forestry activities were carried out on forest and revenue land for Dhanbada Power’s 7.50 MW small hydroelectric project in village Bhalupkhana (Dharamjaigarh block) without obtaining the necessary forest clearances, and rules were disregarded during the expansion of the 33 KV transmission line. The petition claims that new CSPDCL poles were installed during the renovation of an 11 KV power line from Bhalupkhana to Charkhapara. It is alleged that the private project’s 33 KV transmission line was routed using these same poles to circumvent the need for separate forest land diversion and statutory permissions.
According to the allegations, the project management had previously applied to the Forest Department and the district administration for permission regarding the transmission line and other structures, but construction work was carried out before the necessary approvals were obtained. The petitioner alleges that, through collusion between certain Electricity Department officials and contractors, an infrastructure setup was created under the guise of renovating an 11 kV line—a move that directly benefited a private hydroelectric project. This has raised questions regarding the potential misuse of government resources and the transparency of the process.
Earlier Petition Dismissed
It is noteworthy that the petitioner had previously filed a petition on this same issue. That earlier petition sought an exemption from depositing the security amount; however, the High Court rejected the application for exemption and dismissed the petition on May 7, 2026. Nevertheless, the court granted liberty to file a fresh petition upon depositing the security amount in accordance with the rules. Subsequently, the petitioner, Vivek Kumar Pandey, filed a new Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
