The Supreme Court on Friday urged its former Justice AK Sikri to take over as the Chairman of the high-powered committee constituted by it to “consider the cumulative and independent impact of the Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana (Char Dham Highway Development Project) on the entire Himalayan valley”.
A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant requested Justice Sikri to accept the assignment as Ravi Chopra, current Chairman of the committee, had opted to quit.
In a letter on January 27, Chopra had “expressed the desire to be relinquished from the assignment”. The court accepted it and discharged him Friday.
Meanwhile, Attorney General KK Venugopal, who appeared for the Centre in the matter, reminded the Bench that it had already appointed Justice Sikri to head the “Oversight Committee” constituted by it to oversee the implementation of the Char Dham project and to ensure there were no breaches, and that it would be better if Justice Sikri was also entrusted with the high-powered committee charge.
The Bench said: “Since Justice Sikri has been appointed as the Chairperson of the committee in pursuance of the judgment of this court on December 14, 2021, we request the judge to also accept the assignment for chairing the high-powered committee constituted in terms of the order of this court dated August 8, 2019.”
The project envisages construction of 900-km roads to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — in Uttarakhand.
Chopra had earlier opposed the Centre’s demand for a 10-metre carriage way and insisted that it be limited to 5.5 metre keeping in mind environmental concerns.
He also sought to link the broadening of the roads with last year’s flash floods on Dhauliganga river, which damaged Tapovan hydro project and led to loss of lives.
Overruling the concerns, the SC had in December last year allowed widening of the three highways — Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri, and Tanakpur to Pithoragarh — forming part of the project — in the Double Line-Paved Shoulder (DL-PS) format with a width of 10 metre, after the Defence Ministry highlighted security concerns and said wider roads were imperative in the region to move arms and heavy ammunition quickly to the border in view of the India-China tensions.