Maintain status quo at Doloo tea estate, SC tells Assam govt after two years of eviction drive

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 9, 2024

Nearly two years after the Assam government bulldozed 2,500 bighas of plantation land of Doloo Tea Estate of Barak Valley for the construction of a Greenfield Airport, the Supreme Court has directed the Assam government to maintain the status quo at the tea estate located in the Cachar district of Barak Valley.

Hearing a petition from Tapas Guha, Pradip Roy and Baidyanath Sengupta, a three-member judge bench comprising chief justice DY Chandrachud, justice JB Pardiwala and justice Manoj Misra also stayed the order of the Eastern Zone of National Green Tribunal (NGT) on January 25, in which the NGT had dismissed the petition on the ground that Environmental Impact Assessment report is awaited and the environmental clearance for the airport in question has not been granted.

The apex court also issued notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change and the Assam government to returnable within April 22.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioners, lawyer Prashant Bhushan stated that even in the absence of an Environmental Impact Assessment and an Environmental Clearance, there has been a large-scale uprooting of trees and eviction at the Doloo Tea Estate.

It has been urged that the NGT was in error in rejecting the OA on the specious ground that it was premature when activities for clearance have taken place despite the absence of requisite approvals.

“There shall be a stay of the operation of the impugned judgment and order of the Eastern Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on January 25, 2024, and pending further directions, the status quo shall be maintained at the site,” the court said.

It was also submitted that even for grant of Site Clearance and In-principle approvals, Environmental Clearance is necessary which can only be done once the EIA assessment study is done.

The petitioners sought a direction from the apex court to cease further action related to the construction of the Greenfield Airport at Doloo Tea Estate till a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is conducted according to EIA notification and to restore the Doloo Tea Estate to its original condition as of May 12, 2022, by replanting uprooted tea bushes, felled shade trees and rectifying the damage caused to the landscape and ecosystem.

Doloo Tea Estate has been in the midst of controversy after the state government approached the owner of the tea garden to relinquish 2,500 bighas of land to set up a greenfield airport there.

On May 12, protests erupted in the Lalbagh division of the tea estate when the district administration deployed bulldozers to clear the tea plantation from that area to acquire the land for the proposed airport.

Hundreds of tea garden workers rushed to the site, soaked in heavy rain, ignoring the restrictions imposed under Section 144 in the area. The workers raised slogans against the destruction of the plantation in the garden.

But due to the heavy deployment of security personnel, the workers could not enter the eviction site.

The state cabinet has announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to 1,263 tea garden workers as a goodwill gesture from the government.

On June 9, 2022, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia informed Rajya Sabha that the Central government has not received any proposal from the Assam government for the construction of a greenfield airport in Doloo Tea Estate.

Scindhia was replying to a question from TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who had sought clarification from the Union minister about sanctioning a greenfield airport in Cachar district and asked for a timeline of the project provided that the ministry had already sanctioned it.

“If any such proposal from any airport developer of the state government is received, it will be considered as per the Green Airport Policy, 2008,” Scindia said replying to a letter from Dev.

“The Union government has formulated a Greenfield Airport Policy 2008 under which an airport developer of the respective state government willing to establish a greenfield airport is required to send a proposal to the Ministry of civil aviati0on (MoCA)in the prescribed format available in the ministry website for 2-stage procedure i.e. ‘site clearance’ followed by ‘in principle’ approval,” Scindia added.