Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Sep 22:

A High Court bench consisting of Chief Justice DH Waghela and Justice Biswanath Rath yesterday sought a clarification from the state government on the evaluation process of smart city and the marks allotted to Cuttack.

High-Court

The court did so while hearing a PIL filed by High Court Bar Association President Ashok Mohapatra that seeks a change in smart city list and inclusion of Cuttack.

While the government had submitted various records pertaining to the evaluation process; Ashok Mohapatra, in his argument cited that gross injustice has been done to Cuttack as the records suggest that Cuttack has been allocated 5 marks even though it had secured 7.5 percent under water charges category.  The marks had been submitted based on reports submitted by the Executive Engineer of Public Health Department.

Mohapatra went on to cite that out of 15, the city had not been evaluated under two categories at all. Out of the remaining 13; the city deserves to score 87.5 percent which would make it the lead contestant in the state for the smart city, he argued.

The government, on the other hand, claimed that there had been no mistakes in the evaluation process and reaffirmed that the detailed valuation could be proven from the records.

The next hearing of the case has been scheduled on September 28.