Supreme Court restores construction ban in Uttarakhand's Jilling Estate (again)

The Supreme Court recently restored a ban on construction and development activities at Uttarakhand's Jilling Estate near Nainital [Birendra Singh vs Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan has restored an interim order passed by the Uttarakhand High Court in November 2022 to halt construction in the area."The interim order dated 23rd November, 2022 passed by the High Court will continue to operate till further orders," the May 17 order of the top court stated. .The case concerns construction activities proposed in the Jilling Estate as part of the Devanya five-star hotel and resort project.The construction projection was said to have envisaged the creation of a township with huge concrete constructions, villas, swimming pool, solar electric fencing and a private helipad. Concerns were raised that this could damage the ecology and hinder the free movement of wildlife in the area. It was also alleged that no environmental clearance was secured for the project. .These concerns were initially raised before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by one Birendra Singh. After the NGT dismissed Singh's plea, he moved the Supreme Court for relief by filing an appeal. The Supreme Court disposed of the appeal in 2020 after ordering a demarcation exercise to examine whether the area could be classified as 'Deemed Forest.'Later, Singh approached the Uttarakhand High Court raising related concerns by filing a public interest litigation (PIL) in 2020. In 2022, the High Court noticed that the demarcation exercised ordered to be conducted by the Supreme Court had not been completed. The Court was also told that certain construction was ongoing in parts of the area that had dense forest cover. The High Court, therefore, ordered a fresh inspection of the area. By the same 2022 order, the High Court stayed any construction at the Jilling Estate after taking note of three Google Maps images that indicated a reduction in green cover due to construction. .However, in September 2023, the High Court modified this stay order and allowed some construction activities to resume. This development was challenged before the Supreme Court. In January this year, the Supreme Court quashed the September 2023 order and restored the construction ban in the area. The top court reasoned that allowing such construction when the High Court is yet to finally decide on the matter could result in a situation that cannot be reversed..Later, on April 9, the High Court finally disposed of the PIL while allowing construction to resume in certain notified areas of the estate after noting that necessary clearances had been given through a single-window mode.This move was challenged by Singh who filed a fresh appeal before the Supreme Court. The appeal questioned whether prior environmental clearance for construction in hilly areas can be dispensed with on the ground that a ‘single window clearance’ had been obtained.Singh argued that a comprehensive environment impact assessments must be conducted before commercial activity is allowed in the area. Further, he urged the Court to halt the Devanya project.In an interim order passed on this appeal, the Supreme Court has now restored the High Court's 2022 construction ban a second time. The question of whether to grant Singh any interim relief will be considered in the next hearing on August 12. .The appellant (Singh) was represented by Senior Advocate PB Suresh and advocates Vipin Nair, Karthik Jayashankar, Arindam Ghosh, MB Ramya, Mohd Aman Alam and PB Sashaankh.The project proponents were represented by Senior Counsel CU Singh, C Aryama Sundaram and Sushil Salwan and advocates Aditya Garg, Shaurya Vardhan Kuthiala, Anshul Tyagi and Sajal Jain..[Read Order]