Shimla, Oct. 14 -- The High Court of Himachal Pradesh, while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) concerning road construction in ecologically fragile areas, has reiterated that no construction or tarring will take place on forest roads until further orders.

The directions were passed by a division bench comprising chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Bipin C Negi after the amicus curiae reported that 55 roads in the ecologically fragile Seraj assembly constituency had been constructed in violation of forest conservation laws.

The HC's October 8 order, which has now been made available, also brought under scrutiny the presence of 16 helipads in Seraj and the permissions granted for infrastructure projects in sensitive...