Read Time: 03 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Monday has halted the proposed greenfield airport at Silchar owing to lack of environmental clearances for clearing land at the Doolo Tea Estate, Silchar, Assam. 

A CJI DY Chandrachud led bench noted the clearing activities were done without environmental clearance (EC), contravening the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006.

"At this stage it would prima facie appear that approx 41 lakh tea bushes have been uprooted. What needs to be noted is that in the present case the clearance of the site was by no means traceable to the cultivation of the tea estate. The clearance was not a part of regular maintenance of tea estate....", a bench also comprising Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has noted.

Expressing his concern over the plea, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench today, "people staying 1300 km away are filing self-serving petitions".

SG Mehta further told court that for the greenfield project land was selected by AAI and wind direction had to be seen. "There were 3 potential lands which were available for consideration. AAI said that for runway it needs larger land..", SG added.

On the court's direction that no further steps be taken, the SG said, "But what about false statements that houses are being brought down, forests are being cut. This is how the jurisdiction of this court is being abused. They are so-called expert who have not even visited the site..".

Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, countered that false statements were made in the joint secretary's affidavit.