The Supreme Court today has stayed the 2nd stage development of commercial Karwar Port at Baithkol Village & Rabindranath Tagore beach at Karwal Bay carried out on a plot area of 17 hectares (42.01 acres) by Karnataka State Coastal Zone Management Authority and DVP Infra Projects Private Limited.
The three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari & Hima Kohli has issued notice on a plea filed by the Baithkol Bandharu Nirashrithara Yantrikrut Dhoni Meenugarara Sahayata Sangha Niyamitha against the order passed by the Karnataka High Court which had refused to stay the 2nd Stage development of commercial Karwar Port at Baithkol Village.
The Karnataka High Court had held,
“there are no grounds urged on merits as to how the Environmental Clearance is illegal. The challenge to grant of Environmental Clearance is mainly on the ground that SEIAA having no jurisdiction.
Therefore, we hold there is no merit in the challenge to the jurisdiction of the SEIAA to grant Environmental Clearance to the project.”
Today, appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat submitted that State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority-Karnataka (SEIAA) has no authority to grant Environmental Clearance for 2nd stage Development Project because the said project falls under category-A and all the projects and activities including expansion and modernization of existing projects included in this category require prior Environmental Clearance from the Central Government in the Ministry of Environmental and Forests (MoEF).
Per contra, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for the respondents submitted that the order of the High Court was passed in July, last year. Hence, the stay should not be granted.
Devadatt Kamat said, they should not start construction on the beach. I was told that they are in the process of construction.
The Top Court Bench stayed the construction activity and list the matter for hearing after four weeks.
On 29th July 2021, the Karnataka High Court had held as “illegal, the consent for establishment (CFE) granted by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for the second stage development of the commercial Karwar port at Baithkol village in Karwar in July 2020.
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However, the court allowed the KSPCB to take a fresh decision for grant of CFE within a month by adhering to the provisions of the laws related to control of air and water pollution. It had accepted the undertaking given by the KPSCB to carry out a fresh inspection and process to consider the application for grant of CFE made by the port officer, Karwar.
Also, the court had directed the government to ensure all the terms and conditions of the Environment Clearance granted on January 2019 by the State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority were scrupulously followed and implemented while carrying out the project. The court had said that work of second stage development cannot commence until the KSPCB grants CFE.