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2020 Supreme(Mad) 957
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
M. SATHYANARAYANAN, N. SESHASAYEE, JJ.
Pandarinathan Govindarajulu and Others – Appellants
Versus
The Union of India and Others – Respondents
W.P. Nos. 14997, 15217, 21883 of 2019, W.M.P. Nos. 1519, 14941, 14942, 21095 of 2019
Decided On : 08-01-2020
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellants : Yogeshwaran A. for Poongkhulali B., K. Arvind, M.R. Jothimanian for Baluk K.
For the Respondents: G. Karthikeyan, R. Udhayakumar.
Headnote:
National Highway Act, 1956 - Section 3A - Environment Act, 1986 - Environment Protection Rules, 1986 - Rule 5 (3) - Acquisition of agricultural lands - Project of National Highways Authority - Ministry of Environment and Forest - Non-compliance of EIA is eye of litigious storm here - This is sought to be backed by few ancillary issues - NHAI had invited tenders for execution of work and entered into four Concession Agreements with Highway Construction Pvt. Ltd covering a stretch followed by two Concession Agreements both one with IRB PP Project Pvt. Ltd and other with TRB PS Highway Pvt. Ltd and last agreement with Road Pvt. Ltd - Project involves both widening of existing road and also laying of new roads for formation of bye-passes - It may be broadly stated that formation of bye-passes along stretch are conceived for avoiding cities/towns/villages on route - This necessarily involved acquisition of agricultural lands under provisions of National Highways Act, 1956 - Three petitions have been filed in Public Interest challenging either project in toot or land acquisition specifically – Held, Before parting with this case this Court intends to record that earlier experience in this State Authorities complying with environmental restoration through planting of trees has been deplorable - About two decades back four-lining of major National Highways was undertaken - Several thousands of trees were felled across State but hardly any tree was planted for restoring environment that was lost - Promises are made and undertakings are given that every tree lost will be replaced with ten saplings and grown but they are flouted with impunity and forgotten with convenience - If this project takes off again in terms of directions herein below given then it is indispensable for NHAI to ensure that environmental restoration is accorded priority - This court now issues following directions - Present project of expansion of NH covering a stretch shall be put on hold and present status quo is directed to be maintained - That project proponent shall undertake a EIA study and obtain environmental clearance - NHAI is also directed to obtain approval from CRZMA for CRZ clearance for two locations that it has indicated in its counter in W.P - Once necessary clearances are obtained as mentioned in above project can proceed - If EIA study to be undertaken provides any contra-indicators to NHAIs plan of development of NH it will be at liberty to make necessary alterations and modifications to make project environmentally viable - This Court proposes to form a Committee to monitor compliance of direction given in above and hence before resumption of project NHAI is required to approach this Court - Petitions closed
ORDER :
1. Another standoff between cause of environment and call of development. The challenge herein relates to the project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) involving expansion of NH-45A that runs between Villupuram and Nagapattinam, for a distance of 179.555 kms. as part of its Bharatmala Pariyojana Project. No Environmental Impact Assessment (henceforth, EIA) study was undertaken to evaluate the environmental viability of the project, whereas, the Notification in S.O. 1533 issued by Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated 14.09.2006, under Rule 5 (3) of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986, and, as amended Vide notification in S.O. 2559 (E) issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated 22.08.2013, mandates EIA compliance for projects of laying new or expanding existing National Highways. The relevant item in the Notifications is reproduced here:
| Project or Activity | Category with threshold limit | Conditions if any | ||
| 7 | Physical Infrastructure including Environmental Services | |||
| 7(f) | Highways | (i) New National Highways. | (i) New State Highways. | General conditions shall apply. |
| (ii) Expansion of National Highways greater than 30 KM, involving additional right of way greater than 20m involving land acquisition and passing through more than one State. | (ii) Expansion of National/State Highways greater than 30 km involving additional right of way greater than 20m involving land acquisition. | |||
| 7(f)(ii) | Highways | (i) New National Highways. | (i) New State Highways. | General conditions shall apply. |
| (ii) Expansion of National Highways greater than 100 KM, involving additional right of way or land acquisition greater than 40m on existing alignments and 60m on realignments or bypasses. | (ii) Expansion of National/State Highways greater than 30 km involving additional right of way greater than 20m involving land acquisition. | |||
2. The non-compliance of EIA is the eye of the litigious storm here. This is sought to be backed by few ancillary issues.
2.1. The NHAI adopted a strategy to segment the entire distance of 179.555 k.ms. into four segments and brought out four separate notifications. The details are as below:
| Package No. | Name of the Project | Length of Package |
| (I) | Four laning of Villupuram (km. 0/000) - Puducherry (km. 29/000) Section of NH45A | 29.000 |
| (II) | Four laning of Puducherry (km. 29/000) - Poondiankupam (km. 67/000) Section of NH45A | 38,000 |
| (III) | Four laning of Poondiankuppam (km. 67/000) - Satanathapuram (km. 123/800) Section of NH45A | 56,800 |
| (IV) | Four laning of Satanathapuram (km. 123/80b) - Nagapattinam (km. 179/555) Section of 45A | 55,755 |
|
| Total | 179,555 |
The estimated total cost of the project was Rs. 6431.71 crores.
2.2. NHAI had invited tenders for the execution of the work, and entered into four Concession Agreements dated 23.04.2018 with M/s. Villupuram Highway Construction Pvt. Ltd. covering a stretch of 29.0 k.m. followed by two Concession Agreements both dated 5-05-2018, one with M/s. IRB PP Project Pvt. Ltd. and the other with M/s. TRB PS Highway Pvt. Ltd. and the last agreement, dated 03-12-2018 with M/s. Welspun Sattanathapuram Nagapattinam Road Pvt. Ltd.
2.3. The project involves both widening of the existing road and also laying of new roads for formation of bye-passes. It may be broadly stated that the formation of bye-passes along the stretch of 179.555 km. are conceived for avoiding the cities/towns/villages on route. This necessarily involved acquisition of agricultural lands under the provisions of the National Highways Act, 1956. Three petitions have been filed in Public Interest, challenging either the project in toto, or the land acquisition specifically. They are tabulated as below:
| W.P. No. | Nature of challenge | Section to which the subject matt |
