the goan I network
PANAJI
The Supreme Court of India is expected to pronounce its verdict on the contentious Mopa airport on Thursday that could seal the fate of the much delayed airport.
The Federation of Rainbow Warriors along with locals living in the vicinity of the airport had challenged the grant of an environmental clearance (EC) to the airport alleging that the Environmental Impact Assessment was incomplete and concealed serious information that would have to be considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee before the granting of the EC.
In March last year, the Supreme Court, while suspending the Environmental Clearance had directed the Expert Appraisal Committee of the MoEF to “revisit the recommendations made by it for the grant of an EC.”
The matter was argued extensively in December last year during the final hearing.
In its earlier order, the Supreme Court had found fault with the decision-making process that led to the grant of the EC but had also argued that “while the need for a public project as significant as an international airport is duly factored into the decision making calculus, such development proceeds on a considered view of the importance of the prevailing state of the environment.”
“Bearing in view the necessity to maintain a balance between the need for an airport and environmental concerns, we are of the view that it would be appropriate if the EAC is directed to revisit the conditions subject to which it granted its EC on the basis of the specific concerns,” the SC had said.
“The EAC, as an expert body abdicated its role and function by taking into account circumstances which were extraneous to the exercise of its power and failed to notice facets of the environment that were crucial to its decision making,” the Supreme Court had said.
