New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL challenging forest and wildlife clearances given to Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A), which is a part of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway and asked the petitioner to first move the National Green Tribunal with its grievances.

The top court noted that stage one forest clearance was given in September last year and wildlife clearance was given on January 5, 2021 for a 19.78-km-long stretch of the road from Ganeshpur (in UP) to Dehradun.

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A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli said that it would be appropriate if the petitioner NGO ‘Citizen for Green Doon' move the NGT as stage one forest clearance was given by Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF and CC).

Advocate Ritwik Dutta, appearing for the NGO said that the stretch will pass through eco-sensitive zones of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve and the Shivalik Tiger Reserve.

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He said that in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve camera traps have been put in which 30 leopards and over 1500 different kinds of animals were spotted.

“I am mainly challenging the wildlife clearance by National Board for Wildlife to the project,” he said, adding that the Wildlife Institute of India has prepared a mitigation plan for the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

He said that the Wildlife Institute of India which prepared the plan was also part of the board meeting which gave the clearance and hence it is also a case of conflict of interest.

The bench said that the primary prayer in the petition is challenging the forest clearance and it is the secondary prayer which relates to the wildlife clearance.

“If once you succeed on forest clearance before the NGT then the secondary prayer will be inconsequential. Therefore, it will be appropriate for you to approach the NGT, which is a statutory body. It will not be appropriate for the Supreme Court to directly entertain the petition,” the top court said.

Dutta said that the problem is that the petitioner cannot challenge the wildlife clearance given for the project before the NGT and it can be challenged only before the top court.

He said that court should grant stay on tree felling till the proceedings in the matter are going on as NHAI will immediately start construction of the project.

The bench said that they have not started construction even when the first clearance was given last year and second in January, this year, then they will not rush for it.

The top court then directed the petitioner to approach the NGT saying it will have the benefit of the order of the tribunal and gave the liberty to approach the apex court after the matter is decided.

“You can also come here against the interim order of the tribunal,” the bench said.

Delhi-Doon Expressway will directly connect the two cities after crisscrossing areas like Loni, Baghpat, Shamli, Saharanpur, and Ganeshpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttarakhand will have 3.6 kilometres of the expressway while around 16 kilometres will pass through Uttar Pradesh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)