Shimla, India – Following last month’s court decision that gave a green light to Alfred Ford’s massive multi-billion dollar Himalayan Ski Village project, the Himachal Pradesh state government this week indicated that it will appeal that decision to a higher court.

Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford and presumptive heir to the Ford family fortune, has been fighting to build the massive ski resort near Manali since 2004. The Himachal Pradesh government initially backed the project and signed a memorandum of understanding with Himalayan Ski Village Private Ltd., developer of the ski resort, before the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2007 and, facing environmental opposition, rescinded the project’s approval in 2010, prompting the current legal action.

Himachal Pradesh Justice Rajiv Sharma last month issued a “single bench” decision that invalidated a lower court’s 2010 order blocking the resort.  With its decision last month, the court essentially held that the government was bound by its earlier letter of understanding signed in 2006.

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said on Monday that the state government would appeal last month’s decision to the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s “double bench”, which had earlier issued a separate ruling requiring that a master plan be prepared for the Kullu-Manali valley before construction of the Himalayan Ski Village project could proceed. He defended his state government’s actions, saying that it was the local population, not the government, that was opposed to the ski resort’s construction.