Supreme Court halts land clearance for Silchar Greenfield Airport

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that had dismissed a plea against clearing of land for the proposed greenfield airport at Doolo Tea Estate in Assam's Silchar..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that the clearing activities, which were in progress, were done without environmental clearance (EC), which was in breach of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006."We are of the view that authorities in the present case have acted in violation of the notification by carrying out extensive clearance at the site in absence of environmental clearance. Assam says the need was to set up a civilian airport. The decision where the airport should be is a matter of policy but when the law prescribes specific norms for carrying out activities. The provision of law has to be complied with and no environmental clearance has been issued till date," the Court said..Accordingly, it set aside the order of the Eastern Zonal Bench of NGT and directed that no activity should be carried out in breach of the 2006 notification.The Court also noted that the NGT had abdicated its duty by not entertaining the plea..It is pertinent to note that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that no work would be carried out till an environmental clearance is received..As the hearing progressed, SG Mehta added that it may have been a "strategic mistake" to file considering the averments being made by the intervenors. .The Court was hearing an appeal against the NGT order passed on March 25 which dismissed the plea against clearing of close to 41 lakh shrubs.The petition before the NGT had said that the EIA report was awaited and that the EC for the airport had not been granted. .During the hearing today, the CJI suggested maintaining status quo until the environmental clearance report is received.Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta countered the petitioners and suggested that some petitioners, who were 1300 km away, were filing self-serving petitions. He argued that workers on-site also cut trees for domestic purposes and emphasized the need for considering factors like wind direction for the greenfield project.The CJI then took note of a report from the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) secretary stating that tea bushes were uprooted by heavy machinery, and the court-appointed officer couldn't venture far due to thick forest and dangerous wildlife.The SG drew attention of the Court to some pictures and alleged that the court was being misled by the petitioners.Despite the arguments, the Court suggested no further steps until an EIA report is available.SG Mehta contended that the Court was being misled with false statements that houses were being brought down and forests were being cut."This is how the jurisdiction of this court is being abused. The so-called expert has not even visited the site and says some other land is better land," he said..Advocate Prashant Bhushan for the petitioners, however, underlined that trees were also cut along with bushes. He further stated that uprooting of 41 lakh tea bushes was admitted and therefore, contended that false statements were made in the affidavit of the joint secretary."Even social impact assessment needed to be done. The workers are affected persons as per the new land acquisition act," he added..The Court observed that prima facie, 41 lakh bushes had been uprooted and that the act could not be said to be a routine clearance. "What needs to be noted is that in the present case the clearance of the site was by no means traceable to the cultivation of the tea estate. The clearance was not a part of regular maintenance of tea estate," it said..Accordingly, the Court observed that the uprooting was in breach of the EIA notification and that the NGT abdicated its duty by dismissing the plea. "NGT should have verified the authenticity of the grievance and instead just dismissed the OA," it remarked.Accordingly, the Court set aside the NGT order and directed that once the clearance report is received, the State of Assam can again apply for commencement of work.In response to a request by SG Mehta to construct workers' homes, the CJI said that such a direction too would be in violation of the EIA Notification.