Monday, July 10 2006 18:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (July10, 2006) declined to stop construction work on the Sardar Sarovar project, even as the Gujarat Government said the work on the dam during monsoon will not go beyond 119 metres.

A Bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice S B Sinha perused the decision taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the basis of Shunglu Commission report and agreed with him that it would not be appropriate to stop the work on the dam.

Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian submitted that the Prime Minister's decision in which Singh had said, "I am of the view that it would not be appropriate in light of the material and observation contained in the report to pass any direction or order at this stage stopping the construction of the dam which is designed to serve larger public interest."

Apprearing for Gujarat Government senior counsel Ashok Desai submitted that during the monsoon the work would generally remain stopped but in certain blocks the height would be needed to be raised upto 119 metres.

The maximum height of the dam proposed to be 121.92 metres.