SC says Centre can notify NH, allows 8-lane Chennai-Salem expressway

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Central government is fully competent to notify any land for acquisition to construct a national highway and prior environmental clearance is not necessary at the stage of notification of land acquisition proceedingsA bench comprising of Justices A M Khanwilkar B R Gavai and Krishan Murari allowed the Centre go ahead with Rs 10000 crore ChennaiKrishnagiriSalem eightlane expressway under the Bharatmala PariyojanaThe bench said the Central Government is free to constructbuild a new national highway for securing a social order and promotion of welfare of the people in the concerned region to provide them adequate means of livelihood distribute material resources as best to subserve the common good create new opportunitiesThe 27730 km highway had faced tough opposition from farmers and activists alleging loss of agricultural land and damage to forest flora and faunaIn the 140page judgment the bench emphasised that the availability of a highway in any part of the state paves way for sustainable development and for overall enhancement of human wellbeing a decent quality of life creation of assets and to fulfil their aspirations of good life by provisioning access to newer and presentday opportunitiesThe bench said the Central government alone has the executive powers to constructbuild a new national highway in any state and to issue directions to the government of any state for carrying out the purposes of the 1956 ActThe top court set aside the Madras High Courts 2019 order which quashed notification under the National Highways Act 1956 proposing acquisition of land for the projectOn the aspect of environmental clearance for the project the bench noted that it is not in dispute that forest clearance is always site specific and therefore until the site is identified for construction of national highways manifested vide Section 3A notification the question of making any application for permission under the environmentalforest laws would not ariseHowever the apex court agreed with the High Court that until the possession of land was taken and the completion of acquisition process the question in connection with altering the mutation entry merely on the basis of notification cannot be countenancedThe bench said Considering the interplay of provisions empowering the Central government coupled with the purport of the notificationoffice memorandum issued by the MoEF dated September 14 2006 and October 7 2014 respectively it will be paradoxical to countenance the argument that the Central government is obliged to seek prior approvalpermission of the competent authorities under the environmentforest lawsThe apex court though observed that it would be open to NHAI to make an application for environmental clearance alongside the acquisition processThe Centre submitted the acquisition process initiated under the 1956 Act which is a self contained code is completely independent and cannot be fusioned with the formalities and procedure to be complied with before commencement of the project construction work in reference to the environment or forest lawsThe highway is expected to cut down travel time between Chennai and Salem In April 2019 verdict the High Court on a batch of writ petitions by PV Krishnamoorthy and others including PMK leader A Ramadoss noted the projected benefits of the highway were not realKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever