SC seeks govt's reply on CRZ clearance to KKNPP units

The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Centre and Tamil Nadu government on an appeal against the CRZ clearance granted to units of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).
A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notice to the Centre, Tamil Nadu Government and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd on an appeal filed by nuclear activist G Sundarrajan challenging the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The NGT had relied on the apex court's earlier order that CRZ clearance was granted by the Ministry of Enviroment and Forest (MoEF) on July 25, 2012 after following the procedure laid down in the CRZ Notification of 2011 and dismissed the plea of Sundarrajan.

The petition, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, said environment impact assessment (EIA) was not done by an accredited agency and it was not in accordance with the accepted norms and procedure prescribed under the Environment (Protection) Act, and, therefore, the CRZ clearance was required to be quashed by the NGT.
The petitioner, a trustee of Poovulagin Nanbargal trust, claimed that the mandatory EIA for the units of the plant has been done by an unaccredited agency, Engineers India Ltd, and there is a non-application of mind in grant of the CRZ clearance wherein various environmental issues have not even been dealt with.

The plea has sought setting aside of the verdict of November 29 last year of the southern bench of the NGT.
Bhushan argued that the earlier judgement of the apex court was only on units 1 and 2 and in that matter, CRZ clearance given to units 3 to 6 was not under challenge and, therefore, needs to be scrutinised afresh.