Uttarakhand: Supreme Court allows widening of roads under Char Dham Project

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to double-lane widening of roads that are part of the 899-km Char Dham project in Uttarakhand in view of security concerns at the Indo-China border.

A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said, "We allow the application by Defence Ministry for double lane highways for three strategic highways." "Recent past has thrown up serious challenges to security along the borders," it said. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Social media[/caption] Also read | Lakhimpur Kheri incident was conspiracy, says SIT The Supreme Court modified its September 8, 2020, order which had restricted the width of Char Dham projects — Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri, and Rishikesh to Pithoragarh, and allowed the three strategic roads to be double lane paved shoulder as said to be important by the armed forces. The top court had in September 2020 ordered that the road width on the entire Char Dham route cannot be more than 5.5 metre in view of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) own circular in 2018. Seeking modification of the September order, the Ministry of Defence had said that Justice Rohinton F Nariman's Bench had allowed 5.5 metre, but the MoRTH amended it, as the roads were being used for different purposes, going right up to the Chinese borders. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Social media[/caption] Also read | Netflix India cuts prices across its streaming plans; now start at Rs. 149 per month The Central government had told the top court to accept the majority view of the High Powered Committee (HPC), which has favoured a 10-metre road width for the Rs 12,000-crore Char Dham highway project. On Tuesday, passing the order on the Ministry of Defence's plea for the widening of roads, the Bench said, "We find there are no malafides in an application filed by the Ministry of Defence. The MoD is authorised to design operational requirements of armed forces. Bonafides of the MoD are apparent from security concerns raised in a security committee meeting." [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Social media[/caption] It added, "This court in the exercise of judicial review cannot second guess the requirements of the Army." The apex court also set up an oversight committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice AK Sikri to oversee the project with respect to the three highways and report to the court directly on the same. -PTC News