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Cogentrix final hearing on August 18

The Supreme Court fixed August 18 for the final hearing of appeals by the Karnataka government and others in the controversial Cogentrix power project case.

The hearing was fixed by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice M M Punchhi, Justices K T Thomas and S Rajendra Babu, when senior counsel S S Nariman appearing for Cogentrix told the court that the project was being delayed because of the pendency of the appeals in the apex court.

Acccording to him, a minister told Parliament recently that a counter-guarantee for the project could not be given by the government till the Supreme Court disposed of the pending appeals.

The appeals are directed against a Karnataka high court judgement which had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to enquire into the allegations of corruption, made in a public interest petition filed against the chief minister and the then prime minister.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of the high court direction to CBI.

Nariman urged the court to fix an early date of hearing of the appeals.

The Rs 9 billion project is to be set up by an American firm on the Mangalore coast.

UNI