ORDER

1. This petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India has been filed in public interest by Tehri Bandh Virodhi Sangarsh Samiti and others. The petitioners have prayed that the Union of India, State of Uttar Pradesh and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation be restrained from constructing and implementing the Tehri Hydro Power Project and the Tehri Dam.

2. The main grievance of the petitioners is that in preparing the plan for the Tehri Dam project the safety aspect has not been taken into consideration. It is asserted that the dam if allowed to be constructed poses a serious threat to the life, ecology and the environment of the entire northern India as the site of the dam is prone to earthquake. After this petition was filed a number of persons have intervened and the parties have filed affidavits and counter-affidavits. The matter was heard by this Court at various stages. The controversy relating to the project has not only been debated in this Court but has also taken a good deal of Parliaments time.

3. Shri P.S. Poti, learned senior advocate appearing for the petitioners has argued that the seismic experts in India and abroad are of the view that past records of earthquake show that the likely length of fracture along the convergence boundary is of the order of 200-300 kilometers. According to him, it is thus possible that a segment of such a length along the Himalayan belt covering the region from approximately Dehradun on the west and India-Nepal border in the east, could be the fracture area of a future large earthquake of magnitude 8 or so. According to him, the Government of India has not applied its mind to this very important aspect in preparing the project.

4. Shri V.K. Khanna, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Department of Power, New Delhi has filed an affidavit dated November 5, 1990 wherein relevant material has been placed before this Court showing that the Government of India, through its various departments and ministries has at every stage considered all relevant data and fully applied its mind to the safety and various other aspects of the project.

5. The project was initially considered by the Environmental Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the said Committee, taking into consideration the geological and seismic setting, the consequence risks and hazards, ecological and social impacts accompanying the project and the costs and benefits expected, came to the unanimous conclusion that the Tehri Dam Project did not merit environmental clearance and should be dropped.

6. The report submitted by the Environmental Appraisal Committee was considered and discussed in the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries held on March 20, 1990. The Committee of Secretaries came to the conclusion that the Environmental Appraisal Committee ought to have concerned itself with the environmental parameters within which the opinion of the said Committee was relevant. It was also opined by the Committee of Secretaries that the safety aspect of the design and earthquake engineering could be best looked into by the scientific and specialised organisations such as Geological Survey of India, National Geological Research Institute, Central Water Commission and Earthquake Engineering Department of the Roorkee University. In this context the Committee of Secretaries further observed that the safety aspect relating to the project ought to be resolved and in this regard directed the constitution of a High Level Committee of Experts to examine the issues relating to the safety aspects of Tehri Dam Project.

7. Pursuant to the decision of the Committee of Secretaries the Government of India constituted a High Level Committee consisting of Shri D.P. Dhoundial, Director General, Geological Survey of India as Chairman, Prof. V.K. Gaur, Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, Dr D. Guptasarma, Director, National Geological Research Institute, Dr C.D. Thatte, Member, Central Water Commission, Pro