The Kerala High Court has asked the government to inform the court of the present stage of the social impact assessment (SIA) survey being conducted for the SilverLine project.
Justice Devan Ramachandran passed the order when a batch of writ petitions against the survey came up for hearing. The court orally observed that the Central government had simply washed its hands of now, stating that it had no role to play in the implementation of the project.
The court observed that the importance of the statement by the Centre could not be lost sight of. The Centre had said in a statement that if the Kerala Railway Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) was involved in the SIA survey and spent its own funds for it, such involvement and expenditure would be at its own risk and responsibility.
The Centre had submitted that the Railway Board had neither approved nor concurred with the SIA survey being conducted by the State government under the provision of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition Act.
As per the Act, when a State government was conducting an SIA, the Centre had no role in it. It also added that the Railways had not approved the project and, therefore, any action for acquisition of land taken by any authority was premature.
The court orally observed that projects of the magnitude of SilverLine could not be hurried or completed on war cries. The government should have been taken the people into confidence. The project was one that the State needed. However, K-Rail had acted in a hasty manner.
Muhammed Shah, counsel for one of the petitioners, said no further SIA could be taken forward since the six-month period of the notifications for the SIA had expired.
The court also recorded the undertaking of the government that large survey stones had not been used for the survey and that any activities with respect to the SIA, even if it continued, were being done only through geo-tagging.
The court also made it clear that the court had neither permitted nor stopped the SIA in any manner.
