SC reserves verdict on Noida Park

The Supreme Court today wanted to know from the Centre the conditions required to be fulfiled by Uttar Pradesh government for getting clearance of the project relating to construction of statues and memorials for Dalit leaders at Noida Park.

The Supreme Court on Friday wanted to know from the Centre the conditions required to be fulfiled by Uttar Pradesh government for getting clearance of the project relating to construction of statues and memorials for Dalit leaders at Noida Park.

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A Special forest bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia sought the view of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in this regard and reserved its verdict after a marathon hearing.

The apex court asked the Ministry to file a written statement in this regard within a week specifying the requirments needed for giving approval to the controversial project.

It said the views of the Centre would be incorporated in the final judgement.

Uttar Pradesh government has defended its project and maintained that it did not require environmental clearance.

The state government said the project is not covered by the notification which required environmental clearance.

"The area involved in the project was only 33.43 hectares, much below the bench mark of 1,50,000 sq meter requiring environment clearance from MoEF," senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for UP government, had submitted.

"The project is not in the forest area," the advocate had submitted earlier before the Bench.