Bombay High Court Permits Adani Electricity To Cut Mangroves For Power Transmission Project Near Vasai Creek

The Bombay High Court has permitted Adani Electricity Mumbai Infra Ltd to cut 209 mangroves for setting up an electricity transmission line near the Vasai creek for the supply of electricity to Mumbai and the suburbs around it.In view of the judgment of the High Court in Bombay Environmental Action Group & Anr vs. State Of Maharashtra & Ors (PIL No. 87 of 2006), the permission from High Court is mandatory before cutting of mangroves in the State. Adani Electricity thus sought permission of the Court to cut the mangroves for the High Voltage Direct Current (HDVC) project. Noting that the project is of public importance would benefit the people of Mumbai, a division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre stated, "Considering the public importance of the proposed project, which shall benefit the electricity consumers in the city of Mumbai/suburbs and which will lead to a potential growth, in the wake of the requisite permissions being secured by the project proponent, and on testing the necessity of the proposed project and by ensuring that the necessary statutory compliance are ensured...we deem it appropriate to confer the desired permission by taking into consideration the importance of the project to the public at large. Considering that the similar permissions being previously granted by this Court in favour of the project proponents who had sought to execute projects of bona fide public utility, we are convinced to grant the relief in favour of the petitioner."Adani Electricity was granted a transmission license on 21 March 2021 and the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) granted its approval on 22 October 2021. The Government of Maharashtra (Industries, Energy & Labour Department) passed a resolution on 11 May 2022 granting permission to Adani Electricity for the implementation of the HVDC Project.Adani Electricity submitted that the electricity transmission line involves 80 km of stretch cable and only 1 km passes through areas which have mangroves, whereas 2.2 km of the transmission line falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone area (CRZ area) across the Vasai Creek. It submitted that it has taken necessary permissions and sanctions from the concerned authorities and also obtained an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) for the project. The Bombay Environmental Action Group (respondent no. 8) raised objections to the proposed project. It submitted that there was an inconsistency in the number of mangroves to be cut. It argued that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report failed to consider the impact of electricity transmission lines in mangroves area and national parks. It further submitted that approvals of the sanctioning authorities suffer from vice of non-application of mind as they did not consider the environmental issues of underground cables on vulnerable species in the national parks. The High Court observed that Adani Electricity received the necessary statutory permissions required in relation to the cutting of mangroves and carrying out the work in CRZ area for HVDC Project. It noted that Adani Electricity received permission/No-Objection Certificate from different authorities including State government, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), CRZ Clearance from Union government, NOC from Sanjay Gandhi National Park ESZ (Eco Sensitive Zone) Monitoring Committee. It further noted that after obtaining statutory permissions/NOCs for Stage-1 clearance, the company deposited around Rs. 8.47 crore towards demarcation, compensatory afforestation, net present value and mangroves cutting.On the number of mangroves to be cut, the Court observed that after the site inspections, the concerned authorities confirmed that the total number of mangroves to be cut would be 209. It noted that this was considered by the Mangroves Cell, which prepared the mangroves conservation plan.It observed that the EIA report assessed the impact of the project on various environmental and social factors. It stated, “The report has also anticipated the impact of air quality, ambient noise and vibrations at construction and operation phase and has opined that the project shall have no impact on ecology and bio diversity at either of the stages. In addition the socioeconomic impact at construction phase and operation phase is also specifically highlighted. It was specific observation that the project will generate employment opportunities to the locals.”On objections raised by the Bombay Environmental Action Group, the Court stated that it cannot sit in an appeal over the recommendations and decisions taken by the various committees comprising experts.The Court remarked the HVDC project is critical for Mumbai as the existing capacity of the transmission corridor is not sufficient to carry further power into the city and that the project would enable additional power to be supplied to Mumbai to meet the increasing energy demands of...

Bombay High Court Permits Adani Electricity To Cut Mangroves For Power Transmission Project Near Vasai Creek

Sanjana Dadmi

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