Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Challenging Dwarka Flyover Construction

A Bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Hima Kohli observed that it cannot entertain the present special leave petition filed against the order of a Single Bench, when a letter patent appeal is maintainable before Division Bench of the High Court.

"Since a letter patent appeal is maintainable against the judgement of Learned Single Judge in a petition under Article 226, we decline to enter special leave petition at this stage. However, we leave it open to the petitioner to pursue their remedies in accordance with the law.." the Bench recorded.

During the hearing, the Bench told Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioners " Go before the division bench in a LPA, why should we entertain a special leave petition against the judgement of a single judge."

"That is because the matter is so grave and urgent. They have put on record pictures that they are going on with construction day and night." Mr Bhushan responded.

The present special leave petition has been filed against the final order dated 30th July, 2021 passed by the Delhi High Court refusing to direct NHAI to place on record all mandatory permissions/approvals obtained by it for carrying out construction on a residential road.

The petitioners have challenged the High Court's finding that Environmental Clearance is not required for Dwarka Expressway on the ground that the said highway was already existing and was just declared as a National Highway under Section 2(2) of the National Highways Act, 1956 through Gazette Notification dated 23.06.2017.

According to the petitioners, the impugned order in contravention of Supreme Court's judgement in case of Project Director, Project Implementation Unit v. P.V. Krishnamoorthy, whereby the court held that though environmental clearance was not required by the central government before expressing an intention to acquire any land, environmental clearance is mandatorily required before commencing actual work or executing the proposed project.

Further, the petitioners argued that the High Court has given NHAI carte blanche to continue its activities in furtherance of the construction of the flyover despite it being apparent from the record that NHAI never had any prior mandatory approvals or permissions, including valid and subsisting tree-cutting permissions and consent orders under the Air Act 1981 and the Water Act 1974.

According to the petitioners, the High Court in the impugned order has not only misdirected itself on the issue of the requirement of Environmental Clearance, but has also failed to appreciate the full extent of the unauthorised and illegal activities undertaken by NHAI in the garb of developing projects of 'national importance'.

The Petitioners have argued that the construction on the said DDA Road will inevitably result in an exponential increase in traffic, increase in air and noise pollution; create traffic bottlenecks, and increase road safety issues for all residents of Dwarka, while significantly reducing the tree cover in the nearby area.

The present petition has been filed by Advocate Anand Verma.

Case Title: Rao CGHS vs National Highway Authorities of India & Ors

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