COMPENDIUM OF SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN ENVIRONMENT RELATED CASES

INDIA

India - Dam Construction, Threat to Life Ecology and Environment

TEHRI BANDH VIRODHI SANGARSH SAMITI and others v. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH and others

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
WRIT PETITION NO. 12829 OF 1985
KN. SINGH, J. and KULDIP SINGH, J.

Introduction

This Petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution was filed in the Supreme Court in the public interest. The petitioners prayed that the Union of India, State of Uttar Pradesh and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation be restrained from constructing and implementing the Tehri Hydro Power Project and the Tehri Dam. The main grievance of the Petitioners was that in preparing the plan for the project the safety aspects have not been adequately taken into consideration. It was asserted that as the area in which the dam is to be constructed is prone to earthquakes, the construction of the dam will pose a serious threat to the life, ecology and the environments of the entire northern India.

Legislative Framework

Constitution of India -Article 32.

Held

The Court sated that it does not possess the requisite expertise to render any final opinion on the rival contentions of the experts. The Court can only "investigate and adjudicate the question as to whether the Government was conscious to the inherent danger as pointed out by the Petitioners and applied its mind to the safety of the dam. We have already given facts in detail which show that the Government has considered the question on several occasions in the light of the opinion expressed by the experts". In view of the material on record, the Court did not find any good reason to issue a direction restraining the respondents from proceeding with the implementation of the project and accordingly, the petition was dismissed.