Chennai:The Supreme court on Tuesday upheld the notifications issued for the land acquisition for the Chennai-Salem 8 lane greenfield expressway project and allowed the Central government and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to proceed with the project.
The apex court reversed the decision of Madras High Court on quashing the land acquisition notifications of Tamil Nadu Government.
The 10,000 crore project was started under the "Bharatmala Pariyojna" to cut the travel time between Chennai and Salem. However, it had faced a lot of opposition from the residents and the farmers alleging that it will damage the agriculture, forest and flora and fauna.
In order to complete the Chennai-Salem 8 lane expressway, the State government had planned to acquire 1,900 hectares land in Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Salem Districts. In this regard, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government had released the notification.
Also read: Centre has proposed to build double-decker flyover in Chennai: Gadkari
Farmers, Landowners protested against the decision of land acquisition and along with Poovulagin Nanbargal, Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani filed a plea in Madras High court to impose a ban on Chennai-Salem 8 lane expressway project.
On April 8, 2019, the Madras High Court had quashed the land acquisition proceedings citing the Environment Protection Act, 1986, according to which environmental clearance was necessary before acquiring land under the National Highways Act.
The state and the centre had argued that clearance was not needed at the time of acquiring and was required at the time of laying the road.
This was rejected by the HC saying that state holds the land on the trust of the people and acquisition will impact the lands. There was no plan of rehabilitation and resettlement as well by the government. The Madras HC order was thereafter challenged in the top court on which the verdict was pronounced today.
A bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari delivered the judgment in the appeals filed by the Central Government and NHAI.
