Great Nicobar Project: No laws, court orders violated in grant of environment clearance, says Centre
The submissions were made before the National Green Tribunal in response to two petitions challenging the Union government’s nod to the project.
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The Union environment ministry has told the National Green Tribunal that no laws or court orders were violated in granting environmental clearance to the Centre’s Great Nicobar Island Development Project, reported The Indian Express.
The Great Nicobar project involves the construction of a Rs 35,000-crore trans-shipment port, an international airport, a power plant, a township and tourism infrastructure spread over more than 160 square kilometers of land. It was granted final environmental clearance on November 4.
The ministry also filed a request with the tribunal seeking that a larger, six-judge bench hear a batch of petitions concerning the project.
The submissions came in response to two petitions by activist Ashish Kothari and were based on the confidential report of a high-powered committee formed after an order of the National Green Tribunal in April 2023.
One of Kothari’s petitions sought that the Centre be barred from carrying out any development work in the Island Coastal Regulation Zone areas categorised as ‘1A’. This refers to ecologically sensitive areas lying between the low-tide and high-tide lines. The petition claimed that the project would violate the Island Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 2019, which bars the development of such areas.
The second petition claimed that the environment ministry had not complied with the tribunal’s orders on revisiting the environment...
