Centre Says K-Rail SilverLine Not Yet Sanctioned, State Informs Kerala High Court Project Has In-Principle Permission

The Railway Board on Thursday informed the Kerala High Court that sufficient details of the technical feasibility of the K-Rail Silverline were not available in the detailed project report (DPR) submitted by the State Railway Development Corporation Ltd.

Justice Devan Ramachandran was also informed that the Railways had not concurred with the social impact assessment (SIA) study currently conducted by the State.

Nevertheless, the K-Rail submitted that land acquisition comes within the purview of the State, and therefore the Centre's sanction was not imperative to acquire land for the project.

The Board also submitted that since the proposed alignment was found to be passing through railway land near Mahe, K-Rail has been advised to provide detailed technical documents such as alignment plan, particulars of railway land and private land, crossings over existing railway network, duly depicting affected railway asset through Zonal Railway after site verification for detailed examination of the project and to arrive at a conclusion about the feasibility of the project. The Railway Board added that the project has not received financial approval either.

However, K-Rail responded that the project has in-principle permission while adding that according to the office memorandum issued by the Finance Ministry in 2016, several pre-investment activities could be done prior to a major project including the preparation of feasibility reports and surveys.

Through an affidavit, the K-Rail also said that the new Government Order expressly said that the planting of survey stones had been dispensed with and that it was using either the geo-tagging or making marks on permanent structures to demarcate boundaries. As such, it was argued that the State is empowered to acquire land, conduct a social impact assessment, and lay boundary stones along the alignment. 

The Judge has directed the Director of Survey and Land Records to file a statement regarding the laying of survey stones.