SC reconstitutes expert committee to monitor compensatory afforestation in Delhi-Dehradun corridor project
Apr 19, 2022
New Delhi [India], April 19 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday reconstituted the expert committee to monitor the compensatory afforestation in the Delhi-Dehradun Economic corridor project.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud directed that the Chairperson of the Committee will be the Director-General Forests, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
Earlier, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had appointed an independent twelve-member Expert Committee headed by Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand.
The Supreme Court also directed to include additional members --Anil Prakash Joshi and Vijay Dhamsana --in the committee.
Anil Prakash Joshi is the founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) and Vijay Dhasmana is an environmentalist.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Union Government, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Highway Authority of India, have agreed with the suggestion to include additional members in the Committee.
The NGT had appointed Oversight Committee to ensure that mitigations are effective on the ground and during the construction of the project no damage is caused to the environment by way of unscientific muck dumping or obstruction of the animal corridor.
The apex court was hearing the petitions challenging the National Green Tribunal order which upheld the validity of the forest clearances granted to the part of the larger Delhi-Dehradun Economic corridor project.
The plea was filed by NGO Citizen for Green Doon raising the issue of the validity of diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes and cutting of trees for widening and elevated corridor construction for a part of NH 72A between Dehradun and Delhi.
NGO Citizen for Green Doon was represented by lawyer Ritwick Dutta. The plea, filed through advocate Srishti Agnihotri, challenged the judgment and order dated December 13, 2021 passed by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, whereby the Tribunal upheld the validity of the forest clearances granted to the project in question.
The Tribunal held that there was nothing to substantiate the Appellant's contention that there was non-application of mind by the authorities during the process of granting forest clearance.
The petitioner has questioned the improvement, upgradation and expansion of the existing 20 km stretch of NH72A between Ganeshpur and Dehradun, which is part of the larger Delhi-Dehradun Economic corridor, a highway project of 210 km which has been divided into four segments.
The project in question has been further divided into two stretches by the user agency (the National Highways Authority of India). The highway passes through the dense forest and wildlife-rich area of Shivalik Forest Division, Uttar Pradesh, in close vicinity of the Rajaji National Park. The proposal envisages converting an existing two-lane road into a four-lane road with a 25-metre carriageway and involves the construction of a tunnel as well. The total amount of forest area proposed for diversion in the State of Uttar Pradesh is 47.7054 hectares of Protected and Reserve (part of the Uttar Pradesh Elephant Reserve) Forest area, the petition pointed out.
