Karnataka HC halts Hubballi-Ankola rail line plan

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday restrained authorities from taking any action regarding the Hubballi-Ankola broad gauge railway line based on the meeting of the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) reversing its earlier decision to reject the proposal. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by city-based Project Vruksha Foundation.

“We direct that no further steps should be taken on the basis of the proceedings of the SBWL’s meeting dated March 20 till further orders,” the bench said. The bench said the petitioner had expressed concern about the diversion of 595.64 hectares of forest land in Karwar-Yellapura and Dharwad for the construction of the railway line. The PIL said that during its 13th meeting, the wildlife board - of which the chief minister is the chairperson - had unanimously resolved to reject the proposal.

However, a 14th meeting of the SBWL was convened which Minister for Large and Medium Industries, and Minister for Sugar and Labour attended as special invitees and which the latter addressed. The Chief Secretary permitted the proposal to be submitted to the National Board for Wildlife (NBW). Referring to this, the bench said it appeared that in 11 days, the unanimous decision to reject the proposal was overturned. The court issued notice the SWLB, NBW, the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the State and Union forest departments and adjourned the hearing to July 14.