Original bench of NGT to rehear issue related to Chardham highway project: SC

The Supreme Court today asked the NGT chairman to accord "one clear day" to an original bench, which had heard petitions dealing with environmental clearance issues related to Chardham highway project providing all-weather connectivity to four holy towns of Uttarakhand, to dispose of the matter.

Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for petitioner NGO 'Citizens for Green Doon', said that the issue cropped up when a bench headed by new NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel recently said that it will rehear the matter in entirety.

An apex court bench of Justices R F Nariman and Indu Malhotra said today that since the issue appears to be a complex one and has been heard over several days, the re-hearing by National Green Tribunal (NGT) will only be done on some final aspects.

It said, this being the case, "we request the Chairman to grant at least one clear day to the same Tribunal to finally dispose of the matters before it".

Parikh said that since after a number of hearings by a three-member bench headed by then acting chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim the judgment was served on May 31, 2018, it should in the fitness of things, that the matter goes back to that original bench alone.

"The composition of the bench can be changed only in the case of a retirement or death of a member of the bench which had heard a matter. Here there is no such case but a new member, who is the NGT chairperson, had recently joined. Thus rehearing can only be done by the original bench only," he said.

The bench agreed with the contention and ordered that the original bench would hear on some final aspects.

The green panel is seized of the petitions which are dealing with environmental clearances for the project which aims to connect Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri in Uttarakhand.

The Centre had told the tribunal that Chardham highway project was of national importance as it is located in border area.

"Expansion of roads is required in larger national interest and there cannot be any compromise on this. The project also involves greater public interest of facilitating the Chardham yatra," it had said earlier.

The petitioner NGO had said that the environment clearance was must for the project and the ongoing work was "blatantly illegal".

It had said the trees and mountains are also of national importance and it is the government's duty to protect and preserve them.

The Environment Ministry had earlier informed the NGT that it has received no proposal for environmental clearance of the project and hence the question of an environment impact assessment (EIA) study of such a project does not arise.

The ministry also said that under the 2006 EIA notification, only new national highways and expansion of highways over 100 kms need to get prior environmental clearance.

The submission was made in response to a plea of the NGO which said that the 900 km project in the hilly state was being carried out without any environment impact assessment.

The petition of the NGO also contended that the Centre has allegedly deliberately broken it into small stretches to do away the requirement for obtaining environment clearance.

The tribunal had earlier rapped the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for failing to submit a plan for disposal of muck from the highway project.

The NGO had sought a stay on the Chardham project and directions to identify stretches of highways where landslides were likely to occur due to recent cutting of trees.

It had alleged that the road widening work to connect Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri in Uttarakhand was being carried out in violation of environmental laws.

"The Chardham project involves excavating and cutting away the base of the steep mountain slopes, cutting of thousands of valuable trees and thus further destabilising the mountains and in fact turning the entire area into an active landslide zone," it alleged