Apex court lifts stay on stalled projects under Char Dham all-weather road plan
The top court said the stay will however continue on those projects which are yet to begin under the plan until the environment clearance is taken by the NGT authorities
DEHRADUN:THE Supreme Court on Friday lifted its stay on certain stalled projects under the central government’s ambitious Char Dham highway development plan, which aiming to provide allweather connectivity to the circuit comprising four pilgrimage sites — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — in Uttarakhand.
The SC said the stay will however continue on those projects which are yet to begin under the plan till the environment clearance is taken by the authorities.
The bench headed of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran also stayed a paragraph in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order passed on September 26 last year which said that these projects did not require Environmental Impact Assessment Approval/environment Clearance in terms of the notification of Ministry of Environment & Forests.
On October 22 last year, the apex court had stayed the NGT order clearing the entire ambitious Chardham project in Uttarakhand. The court directed the Union ministry of road transport and highways to file its affidavit on a plea seeking a stay on the order the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had cleared the projects and set up a committee to oversee it.
The court said the affidavit, to be filed within eight weeks, must indicate details of the ongoing projects specifying the stretch where hills have been cut and trees have been felled.
Dehradun-based NGO, Citizens for Green Doon (CGD) had challenged the NGT order dated September 26, 2018, which, in its Paragraph 46, had outlined that no environment clearance (EC) was required. ““Accordingly, these projects did not require EIA Approval/environment Clearance in terms of the Notification of MOEF&CC dated September 14, 2006 and amended on August 22, 2013...” it had read.
At the outset, Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand appearing for the Centre along with advocate Balendu Shekhar, said that the NGT has cleared the project and all due procedure were followed.
Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the NGO petitioner, said 900km of the road widening highway project was illegally divided into segments in order to avoid prior environmental clearance. This clearance is mandatory for national highway covering 100km or above. He had added that mountains in Uttarakhand were very fragile and if environment concerns were not taken care of, a tragedy like the Kedarnath flash flood of 2013 can happen again.
The NGO had stated that the project has been “mischievously divided” into segments to avoid taking green clearance under the environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2006. Over 26,000 trees have been felled, claims the NGO.
“The Supreme Court has banned any new construction activity until EC is obtained. The ongoing works could continue. The MORTH has been asked to file affidavit on the works done so far,” Himanshu Arora, secretary of the NGO said.
Parikh said that if the project was allowed to go on, an irreversible damage would be done to the ecology which would be equal to damage done by 10 hydro power projects.
He said that NGT order giving clearance to the project should be stayed as there were gross violation of environmental norms.
The court agreed that prior environmental clearance for the project is needed and therefore, stayed the judgement of NGT that says ‘no environmental clearance’ is required.
The bench, however, said that it will not stay the NGT order in entirety. The bench made it clear that the project could proceed only if the environmental clearance is obtained.
The apex court said that mountain cutting and tree feeling had been done for ongoing projects and therefore they shall continue to avoid further damage to the sensitive route. It also hoped that government and related agencies ‘will not commence any new tree felling activity or cutting mountains involving slope destruction and muck dumping’ which would be considered violation of the order.
The NGO also claims that massive damage has been posed due to the project which has led to human mortalities during the rainy season. They reported that seven labourers were killed in the landslide on the yatra route. The ministry of road transport had earlier submitted before NGT that the along 16 stretches the physical progress of widening work if between 0%-25%.
The top court had on November 26 sought the Centre’s response on why it should not stay the NGT order clearing the project. On September 26, the NGT had constituted a committee to monitor the road project while giving its nod with some safeguards in view of public interest and the country’s security.
The committee headed by former Uttarakhand HC judge Justice UC Dhyani was set up to overseeing the implementation of the Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the project.
The NGO had said that the environment clearance was must for the project and the ongoing work was “blatantly illegal”.