SC quashes project by Tata near Sukhna

‘Housing project close to sanctuary’

that it involved a large number of MLAs of Punjab legislative Assembly. The entire exercise smacks of arbitrariness on the part of the government, including functionaries. Thus, we dismiss the appeals with the directions mentioned above,” the bench, also comprising justices M.R. Shah and B.R. Gavai, said.

The apex court’s verdict came on the appeal of THDCL against a 2017 judgement of the Delhi HC in which it had said that the project site was “found to be a part of the area of Sukhna Lake” and the permission granted to the project by the Nagar Panchayat was set aside.

The bench said that the court “has to perform its duty” when authorities have failed to protect the wildlife sanctuary and its eco--sensitive zone as there was a need to stop “environmental degradation and wildlife degeneration” to protect the Earth and civilisation.

“The need to protect flora and fauna which constitutes a major portion of our ecosystem is immediate. Development and urbanization coming at the cost of adversely affecting our natural surroundings will in turn impact and be the cause of human devastation as was seen in the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand and in 2018 in Kerala,” it said.

The total ‘CAMELOT’ housing project area, located in Mohali district, was 52.66 acres out of which 41.54 acres was to be developed for group housing. The parking facility was being designed to accommodate 3,645 vehicles and proposed maximum height of the building was to be 92.65 metres. The bench, after dealing with factual and legal issues pertaining to the case, said the Punjab government had failed to act on the basis of the “doctrine of public trust”.