By Greenminute
Karnataka High Court has sent notice to concerned departments on the decision of the State Board of Wildlife which had cleared the controversial 168 KM long broad gauge Hubballi-Ankola Rail Project (HARP). On March 20, the state wildlife board had hurriedly cleared the project and forwarded it to National Board of Wildlife for approval, overruling the majority decision which had completely rejected the project.
On Thursday, Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka said this was a classic example where sitting ministers influence a case. He stated, “In a period of 11 days, how did the decision change as on March 9, there was consensus for its rejection while on March 20, the project was cleared. In the board meeting, ministers were allowed to address the board when they were not members of the board.”
The Court further directed that no further steps be taken on the basis of decision taken in the 20th March meeting of the state wildlife board. This decision change of the state wildlife board on March 20 needs serious examination and scrutiny. Nobody can act on the decision now and notices will be issued to the concerned central and state departments, the court stated.
A public interest litigation was filed by Urban Conservationist Vijay Nishanth of Project Vruksha.com questioning the legality of the Karnataka State Board of Wildlife’s decision to give clearance despite the project being rejected umpteen times by both central and state agencies. Challenging the proceedings of the state wildlife board meeting, the petitioner said the decision to approve the project was taken by the Board Chairman (chief minister) without due care and caution and ignoring the objections of the majority of the board members. The decision of the chairman was solely based on pro-project arguments forwarded by the “four Special Invitees” who vitiated the proceedings of the 14th meeting.
The petition stated four special invitees included – State Large and Medium Scale Industry Minister, Jagdish Shettar, Shivram Hebbar, Labour and Sugar Minister, R V Deshpande, former Industry Minister and the Chief Secretary. Just 11 days before, the Board had unanimously rejected the grant of wildlife clearance to the ecologically disastrous project requiring diversion of 596 hectares and felling of 2.2 lakh trees. And further, the 14th meeting gives no reason for the decision change while it records the clear scientific reasons given by the board members to reject the project.
The next hearing of the Hubballi-Ankola rail line project case is on July 14.
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