{"id":268140,"date":"2022-06-09T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T04:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=268140"},"modified":"2022-06-08T20:02:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:32:11","slug":"railway-doubling-project-karnataka-goa-western-ghat-environment-protection-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/06\/09\/railway-doubling-project-karnataka-goa-western-ghat-environment-protection-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Railway doubling project on Karnataka-Goa route antithesis to biodiversity and ecology; Supreme Court revokes approval for railway doubling in Western Ghats\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court: <\/span><\/b>In an important case regarding environment Law the 3-judge Bench comprising<\/span> L. Nageswara Rao, B. R. Gavai and Aniruddha Bose, JJ., revoked the approval granted by the Standing Committee of NBWL for doubling the railway line between Castlerock to Kulem. The Court remarked,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c\u2026in case of doubt, protection of environment would have precedence over the economic interest.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Factual Backdrop\u00a0<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The instant case relates to the recommendation made by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) for wildlife clearance for doubling of 26 km stretch of the railway line in Western Ghats from Castlerock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa passing through Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, subject to fulfilling certain conditions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal is for doubling the existing railway line on the land involving 120.875 hectares of land within protected area and 113.857 hectares of land in non-protected area reserved forest 7.018 hectares.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The recommendation of NBWL was assailed by Goa Foundation before the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for being in violation of the order passed by the Supreme Court on 05-10-2015. The Goa Foundation contended that the project involves diversion of significant area of forest land and sanctuary land and would entail further destruction of the Sanctuary\/National Park and wildlife. Further, a large number of trees will have to be felled within the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and also, the integrity of the protected area and wildlife sanctuary would be severely affected. The Goa Foundation also contended before the CEC that assessment of proper impact on wildlife habitat and biodiversity was never carried out before NBWL approved the project.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pertinently, western ghats eco-system which is one of world\u2019s eight hotspots, which spreads across 9 National Tiger Reserves, 20 National Parks and about 68 Wildlife Sanctuaries and the landscape forms one of the largest and most contiguous Protected Area networks in the country.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CEC Recommendation<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The CEC recommended revocation of the permission granted by the Standing Committee for NBWL for doubling the railway line passing through the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats from Tinaighat-Castlerock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa as such permission was in violation of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the order dated 05-10-2015.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Noticing that the proposed railway doubling line is parallel to the existing railway line which passes through same forest along the same corridor, the CEC was of the opinion that the additional line is not likely to add either to the turnaround time of the train or loco or to the speed of the train. Therefore, the CEC recommended that the permission granted by the Standing Committee of the NBWL should be revoked, some of the reasons cited by the CEC were as following:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n