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Uttarakhand High Court
25 February vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others on 25 February, 2026
2026:UHC:1302-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
THE HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. MANOJ KUMAR GUPTA
AND
THE HON'BLE JUSTICE MR. SUBHASH UPADHYAY
Writ Petition (M/B) No.119 of 2026
25 February, 2026
M/s Sarthi Construction and Infra Private Limited and
Another
-----Petitioners
Versus
State of Uttarakhand and Others ----Respondents
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Presence:-
Mr. D.S. Patni, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Dharmendra
Barthwal, learned counsel for the petitioners.
Mr. Yogesh Chandra Tiwari, learned Standing Counsel for the State
of Uttarakhand/ respondent no.1.
Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, learned counsel for Uttarakhand Pollution
Control Board/ respondent no.2.
Mr. Manoj Kumar, learned Standing Counsel for the Union of India/
respondent no.3.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
JUDGMENT :
(per Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta C. J.)
1. Petitioner no.1 is a private limited company
and petitioner no.2 is Director of the petitioner company.
The petitioner company along with another company M/s
VRS Infra Pvt. Ltd. has formed a joint venture in the
name and style of 'M/s Sarthi Construction and Infra
Private Limited - M/s VRS Infra Pvt. Ltd. (JV)'. The said
JV has been granted an important strategic work -
'Improvement /Construction of 2-Lane with hard shoulder
of Askote-Lipulekh Road From Tawaghat Village to Budhi
Village (Design Km.56.935 to Km.95.748) and from End
of tunnel Portal to Kalimandir (Design Km. 113.828 to
2026:UHC:1302-DB
Km.133.078)(Total Design Length = 58.063 Km.) of (NH-
09) under Project Hirak of BRO in the State of
Uttarakhand on EPC Mode, (Tender ID:-
2023_MoRTH_740109_2)' by the Boarder Road
Organization(BRO), Headquarter, Chief Engineer, Project
Hiark vide letter of acceptance dated 07.09.2024.
2. The case of the petitioners is that the JV in
view of it have been granted the aforesaid work sought
permission for installation of a temporary mobile crushing
plant. The road which is to be constructed under the
project is a boarder road and, therefore, the project is of
strategic importance.
3. The application of the petitioners has not been
entertained in view of head office letter dated
27.05.2025 which directs that no application for setting
up of any new stone crushing unit shall be entertained.
The said order was issued by the head office in order to
ensure compliance of an order dated 22.05.2025 passed
in WPMB No.281 of 2025, 'Mahendra Singh & Another Vs.
Union of India & Others'. The operative part of the order
passed in WPMB No.281 of 2025 is extracted below for
ready-reference:
"13. We, therefore, call upon the
Secretary, Mining, Government of Uttarakhand
and Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board to
identify areas in every district, which can be
earmarked as dedicated zones for crushing and
2026:UHC:1302-DB
dumping of stones/RBM, within six weeks from
today. We hope and expect that till the
exercise of identification of such area is
complete, permission for setting up new stone
crushing units may be kept on hold"
4. The specific case of the petitioners is that the
mobile crushing unit which it proposes to set up is of a
temporary nature for captive use during the construction
of the road and after completion of the project the unit
would be dismantled.
5. The further case of the petitioners is that if the
petitioners are not granted permission to set up the
mobile crushing unit it would not be able to meet its
commitments under the contract and it would also be
detrimental to the national interest.
6. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners has
referred to an order dated 30.12.2025 passed in the
same PIL (WPMB No.281/2025) whereby the intervention
application filed by the State seeking permission to set
up a temporary mobile crushing plant for Jamrani Dam
Multipurpose Project was allowed considering the fact
that the permission sought was for a temporary mobile
crushing project for captive use only.
7. We find force in the submission of learned
Senior Counsel for the petitioners. Having regard to the
strategic importance of the project and the fact that the
2026:UHC:1302-DB
mobile crushing unit sought to be set up is meant for
captive use only and not as a permanent unit, we are of
the opinion that the application of the petitioners should
be considered by respondent no.2 without treating the
order dated 22.05.2025 as any impediment.
8. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board also very fairly
states that the application submitted by the petitioners
would be considered on its own merit.
9. Accordingly, we dispose of the writ petition
directing respondent no.2 to pass appropriate order on
the application of the petitioners for setting up of captive
mobile crushing plant at Khata No.50, Survey No.2302,
Village Gunji, Tehsil Dharchula, District Pithoragarh within
a period of four weeks from today.
10. Learned counsel for respondent no.2 shall
communicate the instant order to respondent no.2 for
due compliance.
11. Pending application, if any, also stands
disposed of.
(MANOJ KUMAR GUPTA, C. J.)
(SUBHASH UPADHYAY, J.)
Dated: 25.02.2026
SS
SUKHBANT
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SINGH
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serialNumber=2D8B71B8D8E345F6B7F95B1DD4FB4BEB
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cn=SUKHBANT SINGH
Date: 2026.02.26 14:18:11 +05'30'
