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Central clearance to HP cement plant quashed
Vijay Arora
Legal Correspondent

Shimla , December 13
In a significant decision, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today quashed the “environmental clearance” granted in July 2005 by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to Harish Cement Plant, a subsidiary of Grasim Cements India, at Sundernagar in Mandi district.

A Raja, ex-Union Minister for Telecommunications, who is involved in the 2G Spectrum scam, was instrumental in granting environmental clearance to the controversial Rs 1,200-crore project without any public hearing.

The court also set aside the order of the Union Ministry waiving the condition of holding a public hearing for setting up the plant, which is located close to a wildlife sanctuary. Further, the court also declared null and void the process of land acquisition and also set aside the notification issued by the state government for acquisition of land for the project.

While delivering the judgment, a division bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Rajiv Sharma observed that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had not applied its mind while waiving the condition for holding a public hearing. The court said that public hearing was a very important component of such a project which affected the life of citizens of the state.

The court observed that the Central ministry had acted only on the request of the then Chief Minister and had not taken an independent decision based on facts. The court said such a practice was forbidden and not authorised by law. It added that the public authorities were expected to work independently. The Bench held that the notifications issued by the state government under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act without complying with the Rule 4 of the said Act were illegal.

The court further observed that “endeavour of the state should be to protect the environment and ecology of the area, more particularly where a cement plant is to be set up.”The court passed this order on a bunch of petitions challenging the grant of environmental clearance for setting up the cement plant at Sundernagar by Harish Cement Plant. Petitioners have challenged the grant of environmental clearance, grant of mining lease and permission for diversion of forest by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The land acquisition proceedings have also been questioned.

According to the petitioners, the site proposed for the cement plant and the mine area is situated in the vicinity of the “eco sensitive zone of the Bandli wildlife sanctuary and Tramabri demarcated protected forests.

It is stated in the petition that on March 29, 2005, then Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh had requested the MoEF to waive the condition for holding a public hearing. Accepting the request, the MoEF had waived the necessary condition of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) to hold a fresh public hearing. The MoEF had accorded environmental clearance to the cement company observing that no forest land was involved in the project and the wildlife sanctuary was at the distance of 5.65 km from the cement plant. However no mention of the Nalni-Maloh mining site (for the Harish plant) was made which is only 500 metres from the sanctuary. The MoEF accorded permission for diversion of 173 hectares of forest land for mining in the Nalni-Maloh area. While considering all the facts, the court quashed the environment clearance accorded to the cement company by the MoEF and also set aside the decision of the Union Ministry to waive the condition of holding a public hearing.