Supreme Court directs Pune authorities to get environmental clearance before building ILS Hill road

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the proposed ILS Hill Road, part of the Balbharati–Paud Phata link road planned through the Indian Law Society (ILS) campus and Law College Hill in Pune, shall not be constructed without first obtaining environmental clearance (EC). [Sushma Date v. Pune Municipal Corporation]

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran held,

“We direct that the project shall not be commenced unless environmental clearance is granted by the EIA authority. Taking into consideration that the project has been pending for a long period, we direct that the EIA decide the application for grant of EC within three months."

The Court was hearing petitions by environmentalist Dr Sushma Date, along with an intervention filed by the Indian Law Society, which owns the hill through which the proposed alignment runs.

Senior Advocate Anitha Shenoy, appearing for Date, argued that the alignment cuts through the ILS campus and the surrounding Law College Hill, which forms part of Pune’s natural forest ecosystem. She described it as a “virgin forest hill” with more than 400 species of trees and a natural aquifer that recharges the groundwater table in western Pune.

She submitted that Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) consultants had termed the existing one-season environmental study inadequate and recommended a four-season Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to capture the area’s full biodiversity and hydrological importance.

Shenoy also referred to the ongoing forest-classification exercise in Pune under the Supreme Court’s directions, which require identification of “forest-like” areas under the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2023. She urged the Court not to permit construction until that process is complete.

She relied on the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) report which stated that construction “shall not be permitted at present,” warning that the project would fragment wildlife habitats and damage the aquifer system that sustains the hill’s ecosystem.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the civic body, argued that the proposed road was part of the city’s approved Development Plan and therefore did not require a separate clearance. He said that the alignment had been carefully designed to minimise environmental impact and would not disturb the forested portion of the hill.

Mehta emphasised that the civic body was conscious of ecological sensitivities and the alignment had been designed so that it would not pass over the hilltop and would only touch its lower contours.

The Bench, however, questioned the distinction, observing that if the National Green Tribunal had said a similar road with the same alignment required an EIA, the same principle should apply.

“If the NGT has said that for another road with the same alignment an EIA is necessary, why not for this?” it remarked.

Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the Indian Law Society, informed the Court that a status quo order passed by the Bombay High Court in 2005 in the Society’s writ petition challenging acquisition of its land for the road continues to operate. He said that the ILS Hill had been preserved for nearly a century through afforestation and functions as one of Pune’s last remaining green spaces.

Shenoy was briefed by Advocates Srishti Agnihotri and Ayushma Awasthi

Kamat was briefed by Advocate Amit Annappa Pai.