Order of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Citizens for Green Doon Vs Union of India & Others regarding grant of the forest clearance for the Delhi-Dehradun expressway.

An application was filed before the Supreme Court on the NGT order, December 13, 2021 - the Tribunal had given the go ahead for the Delhi-Dehradun expressway.

The NGT, December 13, 2021 had said that the development of the project cannot be stalled and held that necessary measures to ensure sustainable development must be implemented. The NGT had directed for the constitution of an Oversight Committee for the purpose of ensuring that mitigation measures are effectively implemented and monitored on the ground and overseen by an independent mechanism.

The Supreme Court, during the course of the hearings had asked the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to assist the court on whether certain additional members can be inducted into the committee with a view to "bring in their domain knowledge to the work of the committee."

The SC said that in view of the specialized nature of the work which is entrusted to the committee, the committee should be chaired by the Director General of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Ritwick Dutta, counsel representing Citizens for Green Doon had requested that the committee must also look into the following two issues:

• The Height of the Underpass/Flyover
• Compensatory Afforestation.

The SC asked the Oversight Committee to keep in mind the suggestions made above and that the mitigation measures should not be diluted and must be strengthened in terms of the suggestions of the committee.