In the wake of rising tensions with China, the Supreme Court today, on December 14, accepted Union Defence Ministry’s request to widen the Char Dham road in Uttarakhand and modify the highway as a double lane corridor. The Court also formed an oversight committee to ensure that environmental concerns are not undermined in the widening of the road.

While underlining that in exercise of judicial review, it cannot second guess the requirements of the Army, the Court said, “We allow the application by the Defence Ministry for double-lane highways for the three strategic highways”.

The acceptance came almost a month after Attorney General K K Venugopal, while representing the Union government, urged the apex court to grant the approval as the present width of the road is not wide enough for the Indian Army to mobilise its missile regiments.

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“The Army has to take the BrahMos… a large area will be required. If it results in landslides, the Army will tackle it. How do we go if the roads are not wide enough?” the Attorney General had told a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud on December 12.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath allowed the application filed by the Defence Ministry which has sought modification of the apex court’s September 8, 2020 ordert which had asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to stick to its 2018 circular on the width of roads in hilly terrain in the execution of the Char Dham road project. The 2018 circular had prescribed a 5.5-metre wide road for the highways in the region.

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The Ministry of Defence had argued that the prescribed width was not enough to facilitate the movement of strategic weaponry like the BrahMos missile regiments and had urged the Court to modify it to 10 metres.

Taking note of the environmental concerns raised by the petitioner — a non-governmental organisation named Citizens for Green Doon — the formation of an oversight committee was ordered to ensure that the environmental concerns are not neglected during the widening of the road.

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