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The Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, B.R. Gavai, Krishna Murari on December 8, 2020, set aside the Madras High Court order that quashed the notification issued for the acquisition of land for a highway project under the National Highways Act. Setting aside the order, they granted permission to the National Highways Authority of India to proceed with the land acquisition process for the 8 lanes Greenfield Expressway project from Chennai to Salem in Tamil Nadu. This 277 kilometers long 8 lane project is going to be a part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana highways project, and the cost is estimated at Rs.10,000 crore.
The Madras High Court while quashing the notifications issued for acquisition of land for the project dealt with grave issues of environmental clearance since the project is laid through forests and water bodies. Where the HC held the project report of the consultant unsatisfactory and asserted that proper environmental clearance is imperative for the project, the Supreme Court held that while a thorough study of the area is necessary, a prior environmental clearance was not necessary for a mere notification of land acquisition under section 3A of the National Highways Act, 1956. It held that the environmental clearance was only needed before the commencement of the “actual construction and building work.”
However, in January 2021, a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court against the order issued on December 8, 2020. The plea was filed by a resident of Salem, S. Yuvaraj who is represented by Advocate P. Somasundaram who filed the petition on the grounds that the apex court did not have the occasion to consider the law laid down for judicial review of the apparent purpose of public policy while a larger policy, Bharatmala-I, is being violated.
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