22 May 2002
SUPREME COURT NOTICE ON NARMADA
DAM CONSTRUCTION
From Jal Khambata
NEW
DELHI: The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Wednesday got a shot in
arm from the Maharashtra Government somersault, endorsing its stand
and helping it to secure a Supreme Court notice to the Union
Government for stopping the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on
the Narmada that was resumed last Friday.
The Supreme Court
refused to grant an ex-parte stay but ordered issue of "dasti"
(by hand) notices to the standing counsels of the Union Government,
the state governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh returnable on May
30. The Court also made it clear that it will give time to
respondents to file replies if they appear and ask for it.
The
Maharashtra Government appeared through counsel S C Birla who suo
motto pleaded that the construction should not go ahead until the
resettlement and rehabilitation of the oustees up to 95 metres is
"fully completed." Stating that the State Government
supports the NBA stand in this regard, counsel also referred to a
task force set up by his government for resettlement of some 1500
persons to be affected from submergence of the forest land.
The
Narmada Control Authority (NCA) had last Friday permitted the Sardar
Sarovar Nigam Limited (SSNL) to construct further five metres to
raise the dam's height from 90 to 95 metres while the NBA challenged
it through a fresh civil writ petition on the ground that the "pari
pasu" resettlement of the affected oustees was not completed
before allowing the construction and their land and property will
submerge unless the Court intervenes.
The vacation Bench of Mr
Justice N Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice S N Variava proposed the next
hearing on the NBA petition on June 6 but it agreed to advance the
next date of hearing to May 30 on NBA counsel Shanti Bhushan's plea
that time was essence as otherwise much construction will be already
over.
The Government will otherwise come and plead that the
construction cannot be stopped half way lest it is washed out by the
impending monsoon, Shanti Bhushan stressed. He also cited documents
that were not taken into cognizance by the NCA at its meeting on May
17 while permitting the increase in the dam's height. NBA leader
Medha Patkar was also in the Court.
At one stage, the judges
were reluctant to entertain NBA's petition as they said the
petitioner should better approach the Grievance Redressal Authorities
(GRAs) set up in three states under the chairmanship of retired
judges as per an earlier direction of the Supreme Court. Shanti
Bhushan, however, pleaded that these authorities did not have the
power to stay the construction process for raising the height.
Since
it was the first preliminary hearing for admission of the new PIL
(Public Interest Litigation) of NBA which had earlier lost its case
to trash the dam, no respondent except for the Maharashtra Government
appeared since their appearance was not required at this stage. The
NBA was, in fact, trying to procure an ex-parte stay by not serving
notices on the parties. Its counsel had secured early hearing by
making a special mention before the vacation Bench on Monday.
The
NBA's case was that the Narmada Control Authority had violated the
Supreme Court's judgment of October 2000 on its earlier petition that
stipulates further construction of the dam in stages of five meres
only after ensuring the environmental clearance and full
rehabilitation of the dam oustees.
Shanti Bhushan said the NCA
permission also violated the Narmada Tribunal Award, as okayed by the
Apex Court, that the height should be raised only six months after
the affected persons have been rehabilitated.
His attempt to
refer to a report about the shoddy rehabilitation carried out by the
Madhya Pradesh Government was, however, shot down by the Court,
bluntly telling him not to refer to the report that came before the
October 2000 judgment.
"We cannot go behind the judgment.
There is no point relying on a report which was given before the
pronouncement of the judgment, neither the press reports will help,"
the Court said. END