Karnataka HC disposes of PILs against Hubballi-Ankola rail line

The Karnataka High Court has disposed of a batch of PILs concerning the broad gauge railway line between Hubballi and Ankola. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale passed this order after accepting the statements made in the affidavit by the Deputy Chief Engineer, Construction, South-Western Railway (SWR), Hubballi.

The PILs were filed by Project Vruksha Foundation and others.

According to the petitioners, the project area falls within the Kali Tiger reserve or Anshi-Dandeli Tiger Reserve, an eco-sensitive zone in the Western Ghats.

It was contended that the State Wildlife Board in its 14th meeting recommended the construction of a 168 km new broad gauge railway line.

The petitioners’ claim was that the project would lead to the diversion of 595.64 hectares of forest land and an estimated 2.2 lakh trees will have to be cut for the project. On June 18, 2021, the court had passed an interim order halting the diversion of forest land in Karwar, Yellapur and Dharwad for the construction of the railway line.

In the affidavit dated August 23, 2023, the SWR stated that the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had directed Railways to submit a revised proposal of the project, in accordance with the recommendations of the committee constituted as per earlier directions of the court.

The affidavit stated that the SWR will follow the directions issued by NBWL and will prepare a mitigation plan for the project, in consultation with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and follow any other directives of NBWL and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEF & CC), and will commence the work only after getting all the clearances/approvals as required under law.

According to the SWR, the project area, up to a distance of 34 km from Hubballi in a non-forest area, has already been executed by investing Rs 100 crore. It claimed that the project sanctioned in 1996-97 could not be completed till now and the same had resulted in non-development of north Karnataka region and escalation in project cost.

“...in our opinion, by accepting the statements made in the affidavit dated 23.08.2023 by the Deputy Chief Engineer, Construction-I, South-Western Railway, Hubli, the controversy can be set at rest,” the division bench said. 

The bench further said, “Accordingly, by accepting the statements made in the affidavit dated 23.08.2023 as an undertaking to this Court, these writ petitions are disposed of.”