11 experts seek SC riverlink order review
The Supreme Court’s verdict pronounced in February last laying down guidelines to implementation of the riverlinking project and ordering the Centre to set up a 10-member committee for this purpose has been sought to be reconsidered in a review petition by a group of citizens and environmentalists.
Though several issues had been raised in the review petition filed jointly by Ramaswamy Iyer, S.G. Vombatkere, Himanshu Thakker, Latha Anantha, Brij Gopal, Bharat Jhunjunwala, Mahdevan Ramaswamy, Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Ranjan Kumar Panda, Uma Maheshwari and Harsh Vardhan, it had mainly focused on certain existing laws to challenge the top court order of February 27.
These experts claimed that the top court order passed by a bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar ran “contrary” to the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, Wildlife Protection Act and Electricity Act as no assessment about the possible “adverse impact” of the order in the implementation of these laws had been undertaken.
Besides, the order would have an “adverse effect” on the Forest Rights Act and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act as these laws protect the rights of tribals to use the forest resources and the national rehabilitation policy as the implementation of the “riverlinking” project would result in largescale displacement of people.
The other important issues emerging from the order cited by them were — whether it amounts to “judicial overreach” into the executive’s domain and whether the project had “fundamental flows of inviting potential disasters” as it involves tinkering with the natural flow of rivers on a massive scale.
The main reason for the “disastrous” aspect of the project cited was that there was so far no “credible scientific” study on feasibility of the project as the feasibility reports submitted to the court were only “drawing board” designs hardly supported by any ground-level assessment exercise.
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