HC notice to Centre, state govt over delay in building CUHP north campus

The Himachal High Court has issued notice to the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development and state government over delay in constructing the north campus of Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) in Jadrangal area of Dharamsala.

The notice was issued by a Bench of Chief Justice of Himachal High Court, GS Sandhawalia, and Justice Rajan Sharma on April 11 on a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by Dharamsala resident Atul Bharadwaj against the state of Himachal Pradesh.

Advocate Nitya Sharma who is representing the petitioner told The Tribune that in the petition, we had specifically asked for judicial intervention against the state and central governments for implementation of a policy that is already approved.

Despite the fact that the project for constructing the CUHP campus in Dharamsala has been approved by the central and state governments, there was prolonged delay in its implementation.

This neglect results in arbitrary disparity amongst the development of Dehra campus and Dharamsala campus and such discrimination violated Article 14 (equality before law and protection from the arbitrary action of the state), Nitya Sharma said.

The project for establishing north campus of CUHP in Jadrangal has been lingering on for 18 months despite the fact that all clearances for the project has been given by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests and Union Ministry for Human Resource Development.

The state government has not deposited Rs 30 crore for transferring forest land at Jadrangal in the name of CUHP due to which the project has failed to take off. The file for depositing the amount was sent to the government in July 2023.

While the Dharamsala campus has been delayed, the south campus of CUHP in Dehra was getting ready. Sources here said that the Union Government had sanctioned Rs 500 crore for bringing up two campuses of CUHP in Dehra and at Jadrangal in Dharamsala. About Rs 250 crore each was to be spent on both the campuses.

The work for construction of Dehra campus has started, but work at Jadrangal campus has not started as the state government has not transferred the land for it to CUHP. The issue also came up in the last Budget session of Parliament as BJP MP from Kangra, Rajiv Bharadwaj, took up the matter and claimed that Rs 250 crore sanctioned for north campus of CUHP was not being spent as the state government was not releasing Rs 30 crore for the transfer of forest land in Jadrangal in the name of CUHP.

The state and central governments have been directed by the Himachal High Court to file reply over the petition of Atul Bharadwaj on May 19, the next date of hearing.

Himachal Tribune