The NGT bench then agreed to post the matter for September 25 and said that since the matter has been already heard at length, both parties should submit detailed submissions.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday ordered the Centre and petitioner, Citizens for Green Doon, to file detailed written submissions in the Char Dham highway widening matter, in which judgment was already reserved. On Tuesday, the counsel for the petitioner sought more time while Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for Centre, argued that the government should be allowed to proceed. The NGT bench then agreed to post the matter for September 25 and said that since the matter has been already heard at length, both parties should submit detailed submissions.
A bench, headed by Chairperson Justice AK Goel, heard the case on Tuesday following an order by the Tribunal last week that a larger bench would hear the case. The NGT chairperson heard the matter even as Supreme Court had asked NGT a fortnight ago to allocate it to the original bench.
Supreme Court had passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the petitioner Citizens for Green Doon who had alleged that rehearing a matter after judgment was reserved was against principles of natural justice. The appeal had pointed out that the Tribunal grossly violated already settled legal procedure by entertaining and accepting mentioning of the matter on August 6 and then agreeing to list it for rehearing on August 9.
The SC had ordered that chairman (NGT) should grant at least one clear day to the same tribunal to dispose of the matter before it.
The Char Dham all-weather highway is a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Rs 12,000-crore project involves widening of 900 kms of existing highways to provide all-weather connectivity between the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.
It was challenged before NGT on grounds that Centre was executing it without due environmental clearances and by dividing the project into segments to avoid seeking a consolidated environmental clearance.
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