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Char Dham road widening: Former union ministers seek review of 2021 Supreme Court ruling
Former union ministers Karan Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi appealed to Chief Justice of India (CJI) amid widespread landslides and sinking zones
New Delhi: In a renewed appeal to Chief Justice of India B. R. Gavai, former union ministers Karan Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi, along with several other signatories, wrote to the Supreme Court on Friday urging it to reconsider its 2021 ruling on the Char Dham project.
They alleged that permitting the widening of roads to 12 metres has triggered widespread landslides and sinking zones in the ecologically fragile region. “This judgement, if not reviewed, will lead to irreparable and immediate impact in the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), which is the origin valley of the national river Ganga and is also the site of the recent Dharali disaster. In view of the safety of lives and livelihood of people and all-weather movement of defence forces, it is imperative to consider the ecological sensitivity and limitation of the terrain so as to adopt a disaster and climate-resilient approach towards sustainable infrastructure,” the appeal, seen by HT, has said.
“We, the undersigned, are compelled to write this letter in the wake of the recent disasters: Avalanche flash flood of Dharali - Uttarkashi, cloudbursts of Chamoli Rudraprayag, along with massive landslides in the Char Dham area of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir that have already tragically claimed irreparable loss of hundreds of lives. These Himalayan states are overwhelmingly impacted, so much so that the entire state of Himachal Pradesh has been declared as ‘disaster hit’ by the state government. The Hon’ble Supreme Court recently in August warned that with the current pace of the environmental crisis in Himachal, the state might soon ‘vanish from the map of the country,’” the letter added.
Apart from Congress leader Singh and BJP senior leader and RSS member Joshi, other signatories include historian Shekhar Pathak, activist K. N. Govindacharya, national convenors of Swadeshi Jagran Manch Ashwani Mahajan and Shashi Shekhar, former secretary of water resources Shashi Shekhar, among others.
They have flagged unscientific and rapid expansion of infrastructure construction projects in fragile terrains. These involve deforestation, cutting of hill slopes, loss of precious carbon-sequestering forest soils, and dumping of huge volumes of muck into rivers.
The letter further said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) adopted a DL-PS (Double Lane + Paved Shoulder, with a 10 m tarred road and a 12 m formation width, claiming an acquisition of 24 m for the Right of Way) road configuration, moving away from its own 2018 circular which specifically recommended an intermediate width (5.5 m tarred surface) for hill and mountain roads in view of the unsuitability of a 10 m tarred width.
The Supreme Court acknowledged this in September 2020, and a verdict was issued in favour of the recommended intermediate width to protect the fragile Himalayas and balance development with the environment, the letter said.
However, these directions were overruled by a bench headed by former CJI Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud on December 14, 2021, in view of MoRTH’s amended circular of December 15, 2020, which mandates a 10 m tarred road for feeder highways going to border areas... the bench declared that “we cannot second guess the defence needs of the country,” the letter said.
“A recent study of June 2025 highlights a total of 811 landslide zones along the Char Dham project, and the majority of it has been caused by hill cutting due to widening. Thus, the December 14, 2021, judgment has proven counterproductive and hazardous to the Himalayan terrain,” they have said in the appeal, adding that the recent Dharali disaster was in the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, which is one of the last stretches remaining for the Char Dham Road Project.
The letter said that the December 2021 judgment, in the context of the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), paves the way for the same DL-PS (10-metre tarred) road widening in this area as well. This stands in complete contradiction to the recommendation of the High-Powered Committee (HPC), which had advised against a bypass on a highly vulnerable stretch within the zone. Despite this, the project has received “in-principle” approval, it added.
“This stretch of about 8 km demands felling of about 3,000 trees and shall impact 17 ha of forest area. Another stretch in the same valley proposes felling of 6,000 precious deodar trees for widening to the unreasonable standards of DL-PS,” the letter said.
“The Supreme Court through its judgment dated December 14, 2021, denied adequate judicial review and declared an unscientific, irrational circular dated December 15, 2020, issued by MoRTH under the excuse of defence needs, as sacrosanct,” signatories said.
The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone is the only pristine portion remaining of the entire Ganga river, signatories have said. HT had reported on August 27 that the Uttarakhand forest department has approved forest diversion for an 8.70 km stretch in the Bhagirathi zone, despite warnings from environmental experts about increased disaster vulnerability in the region.
Official communication dated July 21, seen by HT, shows the state has granted approval to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for constructing the 17.50-hectare stretch from Hina to Tekhla in Uttarkashi as part of the Char Dham route.
HT reported on August 7 that landslides and floods in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi region this monsoon, in the heart of the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), have yet again highlighted the trade-offs involved in the construction of the final stretch of the Char Dham road.
