Great Nicobar project: SC rejects Centre’s plea against PILs
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has rejected the Centre’s plea challenging the maintainability of public interest litigations before the Calcutta High Court over alleged violations of the Forest Rights Act in obtaining consent for infrastructure development on Great Nicobar Island.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan refused to interfere, noting that the matter is already before the Calcutta High Court, which is scheduled to hear the petitions on November 25 and 26.
Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, had questioned the maintainability of the PILs, arguing that the project was of national importance and that its environmental clearance had already been challenged before the National Green Tribunal. He also raised concerns over multiple legal proceedings on the same issue.
Justice Bagchi, however, pointed out that the High Court had already found the petitions maintainable and said issues, including the scope of public interest, could be examined there. Senior advocate S. Muralidhar, appearing for the tribal council, argued that the PILs were maintainable because the project directly affects the rights of particularly vulnerable tribal communities.
The petitions allege failures to obtain tribal consent under the 2006 Forest Rights Act and to reduce the environmentally protected buffer around national parks.
The Centre had also questioned the petition’s maintainability because the petitioner and former bureaucrat Meena Gupta was not a resident of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court had rejected that objection, holding that PILs do not impose rigid requirements regarding a petitioner’s legal standing.
The High Court had further held that projects cannot escape judicial scrutiny merely because they are nationally significant or involve substantial expenditure. The Supreme Court has now directed the High Court to consider all petitions concerning the Great Nicobar project on November 25 and 26.