MUMBAI, September 29: The Supreme Court may have dismissed the special leave petition filed by Sahara India Housing Limited (SIHL), but it has asked the state government to consider its request for grant of fresh letter of intent for the multicrore tourism project in the Pune district.``We are not inclined to interfere with the special leave petitions and dismiss the same. However, we wish to clarify that the request for grant of fresh letter of intent may be considered by the state and the appropriate authorities uninfluenced by the dismissal of these special leave petitions in the court or any observations made by the high court,'' the Supreme Court stated in its brief order.SIHL has assured the apex court that till the question of fresh letter of intent is decided by the state government, it will undertake no fresh construction.Following a writ petition filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group, the Bombay High Court had not only quashed the letter of intent granted to SIHL, but had alsoasked the state government to conduct a probe into SIHL's land transactions.Ever since the grant of letter of intent, the multicrore project was rocked by one controversy after another. Following allegations made by a section of Congress leadership, the then Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had stayed ongoing constructions at the project site. Subsequently, Joshi had appointed two separate committees to probe into the allegations.After the high court quashed the letter of intent, SIHL had submitted a fresh application to the alliance government. It also given an undertaking that it would not undertake any construction activity on disputed forest land.``We have received SIHL's application for fresh letter of intent. However, no decision was taken since the appex court was seized of the matter. Now since, the special leave petitions have been dismissed and the government has been empowered to take a decision, we will soon decide on its application,'' a senior official said.
