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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Project alert to meddler states

Project alert to meddler states

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published Published on Feb 3, 2016   modified Modified on Feb 3, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that if states play vote-bank politics by obstructing central projects, such tactics will amount to a "breakdown of constitutional machinery".

The court made the observation today while coming down heavily on the Jayalalithaa government for stalling a central gas pipeline project by citing farmers' interests.

"We are not against farmers. But you can't prevent the project which is in national interest. If you (the Tamil Nadu government) have any problem, you should have taken up the matter with the Centre, but you have no authority to direct GAIL (the central PSU laying the pipeline) to alter the alignment. If a state government obstructs a central project, it will amount to a breakdown of constitutional machinery," a bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.K. Sikri and R. Banumati told state additional advocate-general Subramonium Prasad.

"Breakdown of constitutional machinery" is a ground for imposition of President rule. Although the court did not say so today, the observation can be viewed as a warning to states not to meddle with central projects on political considerations.

The bench upheld a 2013 Madras High Court judgment allowing GAIL to implement its Rs 3,000-crore natural gas pipeline spread across three states.

The apex court held that Tamil Nadu had no legal jurisdiction to direct GAIL to alter the alignment once the PSU had "validly acquired" the land.

Senior counsel Dhruv Mehta, appearing for GAIL, told the court that out of the total 310km length, the pipeline had already been laid over 200km at a cost of Rs 685 crore. The company was willing to pay the Tamil Nadu farmers higher compensation, he added.

Justice Thakur pointed out that the state had all along supported the project but what happened subsequently was a populist move. "You supported the farmers' agitation against the project because votes are involved. You have gone by the sentiments of the farmers," the CJI observed.

Today's order came on an appeal by the Jayalalithaa government against the high court's clearance for the pipeline. The high court ruling had come on a GAIL plea against the government's decision to stall the project on the ground that over 5,500 farmers risked losing their livelihood as the pipeline would cut through their fields.

The government had asked GAIL to take an alternative route despite an expert committee saying it was not feasible. The project was conceived during the DMK government's tenure but the implementation commenced after Jayalalithaa came to power.

The high court had said there was "overwhelming public interest" in the project.

The Telegraph, 3 February, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160203/jsp/nation/story_67266.jsp#.VrFrtVI1t_k


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