Source: ET Infra
The Mumbai High Court dismissed a public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by Conservation Action Trust, environmentalist Debi Goenka and a writ petition filed by National Fish workers Forum challenging a no objection certificate (NOC) granted by the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) for constructing a new port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
On 31 July 2023, the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority granted NOC to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) to develop the greenfield port.
JNPA approached the DTEPA for NOC after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) said that “setting up of port in Dahanu Taluka Ecologically Fragile Area may be considered subject to clearances under EIA Notification, 2006, CRZ Notification 2011 and clearance from DTEPA and other /regulations as applicable”.
Following the DTEPA NOC, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance for the project on 16 February based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee.
“When the entire proceedings conducted by the DTEPA are considered, we find that the Authority has taken into consideration all relevant aspects for arriving at the conclusion that approval for setting up the greenfield port at Vadhavan, Taluka Dahanu ought to be granted,” Judge Jitendra Jain and Judge A S Chandurkar wrote in the 18 April order.
The DTEPA, according to the Mumbai High Court, concluded that the “complexion of the project had undergone a substantial change in view of re-location of the port at a distance of about six kilometers from the shore area”. The aspect of mangrove protection has also been gone into.
The concerns raised by the Conservation Action Trust on 11 January 2023 based on the Shoreline Change Atlas of India, Volume 2, 2014 have also been considered.
The DTEPA has relied upon the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) report as well as the report of the National Centre of Coastal Research (NCCR). It has found that the report on Shoreline Changes Atlas of the Indian Coasts was based on data of five to six years while the NCSCM report was based on data of about twenty-four years. Since the NCCR and NCSCM reports were published by the MoEF&CC, it preferred to go by the said reports. With the change of location to offshore, it was found that the greenfield port was to be established at a distance of about six kilometers from the shoreline.
The offshore area was found to fall beyond the area of Dahanu Taluka and within the domain of the Central Government.
It is thus found that the DTEPA as an Authority under Section 3 of the Act of 1986 has considered all relevant aspects having material bearing on the issue as to whether approval should be granted to the greenfield port. It has also proposed mitigation measures by constituting a Monitoring Committee for different subjects to have constant monitoring.
A Grievance Committee has also been constituted for considering the grievances of all stakeholders as well as all those concerned with the project.
“We therefore do not find any justifiable ground to interfere with the approval granted by the DTEPA to the establishment of the greenfield port vide its order dated 31 July 2023. The approval of the DTEPA is only a step towards the actual establishment of the greenfield port.
JNPA is required to obtain all necessary clearances and approvals from various authorities as well as the Expert Appraisal Committee and the MoEF&CC (which have since been received).
“These authorities exercise jurisdiction over different environmental spheres and only on the project being approved by all of them can the greenfield port be established. Hence for aforesaid reasons, we are not inclined to interfere in exercise of writ jurisdiction. Accordingly, Public Interest Litigation and Writ Petition are dismissed,” the court wrote in its order.
Welcoming the court order, Unmesh Wagh, Chairman, JNPA reiterated that the port authority had “done extensive studies and accordingly made a lot of changes in the layout of the new port to ensure that there is negligible impact on environment in general and marine ecology in particular”.
“That is the reason why we received NOC from DTEPA and environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance from the MOEF&CC,” he said.
Wagh noted that various experts in the environmental field scrutinised the project in detail and granted permission with lots of conditions.
“We are open to suggestions if there is scope for improvement and are committed to building a green port and deliver on our commitment,” Wagh added.
