SC to hear Centre’s Char Dham road project plea tomorrow

The Supreme Court on Tuesday showed urgency to decide the fate of the Char Dham road expansion project after the Centre cited “national security” concerns to complete the project involving three strategic roads leading to the international border with China

The Supreme Court on Tuesday showed urgency to decide the fate of the Char Dham road expansion project after the Centre cited “national security” concerns to complete the project involving three strategic roads leading to the international border with China.

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A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari agreed to hear the matter on Thursday and asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to submit a compilation of all relevant government notifications and court orders needed to decide the case.

In September last year, the Supreme Court had directed the width of the road to be 5.5 metre based on a minority report of a 26-member High Powered Committee (HPC). This width was fixed as per a 2018 notification issued by the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Later, the ministry amended its notification and filed an application in the top court against its September 8, 2020 order.

The Ministry of Defence too had filed a separate application in December last year supporting the MoRTH. It requested the court to allow the road width to be increased to 7 metre (or 7.5 metre where there is a raised kerb) to facilitate movement of heavy vehicles carrying troops, self-propelled artillery and various machinery on each carriageway of the roads. The Char Dham expansion projects involved three strategic roads: 281-kilometre long Rishikesh to Mana (NH-58), 231-km Rishikesh to Gangotri (NH-94, 108) and 162-km Tanakpur to Pithoragarh (NH-125).

The Centre had come prepared to argue the case on Tuesday but a request for adjournment was moved by NGO Citizens for Green Doon, which has opposed the road expansion by raising environmental concerns. Appearing for the NGO, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves submitted to the court that several persons in his office and in the NGO assisting him in the case were infected with Covid-19 and requested the matter to be heard after three weeks.

Attorney General KK Venugopal, also appearing for the Centre, did not oppose the adjournment but informed the court about the urgency of the matter as heavy trucks and army vehicles use these roads to reach Chinese border.

SG Mehta vehemently opposed the petitioner’s request for adjournment, saying, “This is a question of national security. These are roads on Indo-China border and work cannot stop.”

The bench appreciated the urgency expressed by the Centre and refused to adjourn the matter by three weeks. Instead, the court said, “It’s about the border roads. Attorney General has already made a statement. We will hear it (on Thursday).” However, the bench wished to know if there was a stay operating against further work involving the project.

Gonsalves told the court that the road expansion work had progressed despite the September 2020 order. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had in December 2020 asked the HPC to consider the latest applications filed by MoRTH and Ministry of Defence and submit a report. This report prepared by HPC on December 31, 2020 gave approval for the Char Dham project roads to have a double-lane carriageway width of 7 metres, as desired by the Centre and army.

However, the HPC chairman in February this year wrote to the Supreme Court that the recent disaster in the Rishiganga Valley exposed the “vulnerability and disaster proneness of the region”. This is bound to increase with extensive disturbances such as deforestation, slope cutting, blasting, tunneling, damming of rivers associated with the road expansion work. Several chronic landslide-prone locations and stretches where the slope stability is precarious exist on the three Char Dham highway roads, the letter further stated. The Centre, however, denied any link between the Rishiganga Valley disaster with the ongoing Char Dham road expansion project.