The Punjab Government has kept in abeyance the proposed discontinuation of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Amritsar. A statement to this effect was made before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the State Advocate-General.The High Court, at the same time, directed the State to explain why the project in Amritsar — implemented at a cost of nearly Rs 600 crore — was being discontinued after about 10 years.The Court also sought details of what was originally conceived when the project was introduced, the public money spent on it and what the State and other respondents proposed to do now.The direction came on a public interest petition filed by Amritsar Vikas Manch, which raised the grievance that the BRTS project was being discontinued without any justifiable cause despite the substantial public expenditure involved.The Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor recorded the grievance that the project was “implemented by incurring cost of nearly Rs 600 crores” and was “being discontinued without any justifiable cause”.The petitioner also submitted that discontinuation “would not only result in wastage of huge public money, but would also cause grievance to the public at large”.The petitioner was represented by senior advocate S S Behl, along with counsel G V S Behl, Chetan Juneja, Raageshwari Sharma and Urvi Sharma.After going through the contentions, the Bench called upon the respondents to file an affidavit clarifying “what was originally conceived, when the project of Bus Rapid Transit System was introduced in Amritsar”.It further directed that “the amount of public money spent on the project would also be specified”.The Court also directed the affidavit to clarify “why the project has to be discontinued, just after expiry of about 10 odd years, and what the respondents propose to do now”.The affidavit has to be filed by “a responsible officer, not below the rank of Secretary of the department concerned”. The Court also directed that it be served upon the petitioner “at least 24 hours prior to the next date of hearing in the matter”.Recording the Advocate-General Maninderjit Singh Bedi’s statement that “the discontinuance of scheme has been kept in abeyance”, the Bench deferred consideration of the stay application to the next date fixed in the matter. The matter has been listed for October 13.