HC seeks reply from govt on permanent NIT campus in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand High Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to submit a reply within three days on whether it plans to construct a permanent NIT campus at Sumadi in the state's Pauri district. National Institute of Technology, Srinagar Garhwal suffers from lack of basic facilities and absence of a permanent campus, which had forced over one hundred students to return to their homes en masse some months back as a mark of protest.

The court also asked the central government to work out the details of construction of a permanent campus for the institute in Sumadi. The division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Rangnathan and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik also directed IIT-Roorkee and Central Public Works Department to present the geological report of the area to the court.

The High Court directed the government to submit a reply within three days. Jasvir Singh, a former alumnus of the premier institute, had filed public interest litigation (PIL) saying that his college started functioning nine years ago but did not get a permanent campus. The court had earlier directed the government to identify four areas in plains and hilly areas as proposed sites for the construction of a permanent campus and submit its report but there was no response from the government.