Supreme Court stays felling of over 11000 trees for Delhi-Dehradun expressway
The Supreme Court has stayed the felling of trees in the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor Expressway project. This ban has been imposed till 26 November. The court has sent the matter back to the NGT. The Supreme Court has directed the National Green Tribunal to fix the validity afresh. The cutting of more than 11,000 trees for the project has been halted. A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath passed this order in an appeal filed by NGO ‘Citizens for Doon’ against the order of NGT passed on 6 October 2021.
The NGT had refused to interfere in the matter. The Supreme Court granted liberty to the appellants to appeal before the NGT challenging the order allowing felling of trees on the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway. The bench, in its order, set aside the October 6 decision of the National Green Tribunal. The Tribunal has been directed to decide the matter afresh. The bench has also put an interim stay on further felling of trees till November 26.
It is being claimed that the project will reduce the travel time between the two cities by four hours. The new six-lane highway will reduce the travel time from 6.5 hours to just 2.5 hours as planned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It will have 12 km of elevated road for the protection of wildlife and forests. The Supreme Court also stayed till November 26 the felling of nearly 11,000 trees and plants in the Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A) section, which is part of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor.
The bench asked the NGT to pass a reasoned order on every statement made by the NGO. Also directed to list the matter within 24 hours of filing the petition. It also gave liberty to the NGO to approach the NGT with all its claims within a week and said that its comments in the matter would not come in the way of deciding the issue on merits.
The top court said the NGT’s October 6 order dismissing the NGO’s plea was erroneous as it did not consider the earlier decisions on the issue. During the hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said the project should not be stopped in public interest as NHAI has taken all necessary approvals.
