The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition against the Environment Ministry‘s final Stage-II approval to Adani group company Stratatech Mineral Resources for diversion of 1,397.54 hectares of forest land in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, for the Dhirauli coal mining block. It also rejected the plea against the Madhya Pradesh government’s nod to the company for the project.
Seeking quashing of the approvals in larger environmental interests, environment activist Ajay Dubey had requested the court to declare the forest area an eco-sensitive zone, citing it as an elephant corridor and a dense, biodiverse forest. He claimed the elephant corridor passed through the Dhirauli coal block area, which has been allocated to Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power.
Terming it a serious environmental issue and not adversarial litigation, the petitioner argued that the court needed to examine the validity of forest clearances, as six lakh trees, standing for more than 500 years, would have to be cut for the project.
The National Green Tribunal had in April rejected Dubey’s petition on grounds of a 259-day delay in filing the case against the Environment Ministry and state government approvals granted in May last year. The tribunal said it had no jurisdiction to condone delays beyond 90 days.
