The interim stay was granted when a writ petition filed by one Prashanth Yavagal, challenging establishment of mini-hydel projects in Karnataka, came up before the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice A S Bopanna.
These projects were planned to be implemented in Bisle, Naravi, Balur, Shiradi-Shishla, Kerti, Kabbinale, Kemphole and other ecologically important reserved forests.
The petitioner said such projects would endanger the ecological environment of the Western Ghats as the Nethravati river which flows through it would have been left with no water if the projects were commissioned.
Besides, people and farmers in the region who are dependent on the river's water would be impacted, he submitted.
Published 18 April 2011, 15:41 IST