Thread by @barandbench

#SupremeCourt is hearing the plea challenging Stage-I Forest Clearance and wildlife clearance granted for the improvement and expansion of the road, leading to the felling of trees in Dehradun

AG KK Venugopal is making submissions

Sr Adv Colin Gonsalves: they have to clarify that this matter does not pertain to border roads or army or expansion

AG refers to a map: Hrishikesh where the red line and blue line join on the left. Hrishikesh to Yamunotri was the original road join Char Dham.

AG: We are not concerned with the Darasu to Yamunotri and the Army is concerned with the green line

Justice Surya Kant: We have a black and white copy, please refer to the place and the name therein

AG: Army has been constructing a road from Badrinath to Mana Pass which leads to Chinese border....there is a tremendous build up on the other side of the border...

Justice Chandrachud: you seek permission for ?

AG: They have to travel to Hrishikesh to Darasu and to Gangotri to access armaments. If the feeder roads are not of the width they will not serve any purpose

Justice Chandrachud: what about the feeder roads?

AG: Distance of feeder roads from border roads is there in the application.

AG: Char Dham roads connecting 4 religious places for Hindus. Petition sought to broaden the road and the buses to could cross each other. petitioner wanted 5.5 m but army wanted 10 m. There are seven projects lead to international borders which are needed for army movements

AG: There is a need for armed forces vehicles, rocket launchers etc to travel on these roads and all this was not taken into account. Army was ignored in this matter and army's needs to be presented here before the court

SC: AG, Which part of the 2018 circular will be replaced by the 2020 circular?

AG: Here the 5.5 m was changed to 7.5 m to enable army to carry their supplies and their needs

Sr Adv Colin Gonsalves: the ministry of defence is not asking for this road... the defence ministry is asking for something which the minority judgment had stated.

Gonsalves: Why is this happening now.. this is happening now since in 2016 char dham yatra was envisaged so that SUVs can travel up and down the mountains. earlier pilgrims travelled on foot but that was not good enough and thus we need highways and helipads

Gonsalves: Himalayas has physical restrictions and you cannot do something that it crash. Expert study has suggested that such vehicles going up and down is impacting the glaciers and there is catastrophe after catastrophe.

AG: Nothing is there in affidavit

Gonsalves: be rest assured all in affidavit

SC: Can we deny the factual position that these are feeder roads to the border areas. I don't think there can be any doubt that these are feeder roads.

SC: thus the whole notion that border areas are only those proximate to borders is not the case here...

SC: If you have travelled to Ladakh and if you have moved from Leh to Kargil to Zanskar you will know when the army vehicle comes and the civilian vehicle comes both meet at one point and descending vehicle is at a greater danger of falling down..

SC: So we cannot say that this need can be ignored. We agree that Himalayas are young mountains... but can the need highlighted be disregarded?

Gonsalves: if himnalayas are capable to take the developments envisioned then yes go ahead but if reports suggest that himalays are not able to take it then can we. we saw what happened as an aftermath recently

Gonsalves: Border areas are different from normal mountains. As we go higher and higher the terrain becomes flat.

AG: what?

Gonsalves: The parliamentary reports states this.. if himalayas are not able to take this and the muck created.. then what is the point of this road

Justice Chandrachud: I have done a lot of trekking in Ladakh. If an army man or woman is sent up to Ladakh, for every 1000 feet they climb there is a mandatory waiting period... you cannot take soldiers from Chandigarh to siachen like this... level of attrition will be very high

Gonsalves: Around 17 Hydro electric projects went bumper to bumper in Himalayas and now we are facing an issue. In 2013, there was a cloud burst, the damage was caused this project. The court took cognisance of this. The court stayed 24 projects on recommendation of HPC

Gonsalves: then in 2021, there was a glacier melt and avalanche because of the black carbon. PM @narendramodi made a wonderful statement that we need our roads to be resilient.. but how..

#SupremeCourt
SC: we cannot deny the fact that at such a height the security of the nation is at stake. can the highest constitutional court say that we will override the defence needs particularly in the face of recent events.?

#SupremeCourt
SC: especially for environmental concerns or should court have more nuanced approach?..We realise about glacier melt aspect but its also happening due to the other rampant developmental projects.

#SupremeCourt
SC: Can we say that environment will triumph over the defence of the nation? Or we say that defence concerns be taken care of so that environmental degradation does not take place.

Gonsalves: we cannot allow the commercial interests dictate the kind of roads we make.

SC: We must tell you our predicament in this... if centre says that they are doing it for tourism then we understand and we can impose more stringent conditions.but when it is needed to defend the borders then it is a serious predicament court has to encounter in cases like this

Sr Adv Gonsalves: Ladakh may not be a correct example here as there is a difference in Himalayan terrain and Ladakh terrain

SC: In security parameters you cannot deny that border areas they both share is similar..

Gonsalves: even if there is a whiff of suggestion that environmental concerns must triumph over defence of nation, i must not win this case. But here we are on an intermediate suggestion.

Gonsalves: all experts looked into and said the Himalayas are being destroyed...

SC: The 2018 circular contemplates a 7 m width... 2020 circular specifically provides for one category of roads in hilly religion which acts a feeder roads to the Indo China borders and roads of strategic national security... 7 m here was in compliance with 2018 one

SC: 2020 amendment has only brought this specific class of border in the purview..

Gonsalves: Let me show you some pictures and videos

AG: I object to this... this is not placed on record

Gonsalves: This is in public domain

Justice Chandrachud: let us see what he wants to show

Gonsalves: Defence ministry's stand and our stand is almost same and that is why we call them a reluctant participant in this issue.

SC: If you see the HPC report, it's the view of the chairperson and not all the members..

Gonsalves: yes I agree my Lord..

Gonsalves: its a narrow road and now more constructions will take place therein, there has been 116 major landslides and there has already been 16 landslides during the past monsoon. every pahadi knows that mountains are being blasted to make roads and mountains cant take it

Gonsalves: interim report of the HPC dated march 2020 was unanimous and only when the political directive came, they changed.. HPC wrote to transport ministry and asked Government to stop the road work. not complied with and law was disregarded

Gonsalves: None of us have met Bipin Rawat, one of the journalists met him and he spoke from the heart, okay i stand corrected now nobody can speak from the heart...It appears that the last chapter of the HPC’s report was written by an intern.

Gonsalves: chapters are well written and they did a summersault and it was because of political influence.

AG: well this is very improper! This is not there in the petition at all

Gonsalves: all from affidavit

Gonsalves: climate change was a distant concept before and now this report brought us close to it,

Gonsalves: NITI Aayog’s report says 60% of perennial streams that gave water to Uttarakhand has dried up and soon there will soon be a situation where people from the mountains will not know where to get their water from

Hearing to continue tomorrow morning

AG Venugopal requests for virtual hearing option tomorrow

bench agrees

#supremecourt #chardham