PARK IN JEOPARDY

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against the Gujarat high court order allowing Reliance Petroleum Limited ( rpl ) to lay pipelines for its Motikhavdi project through a marine national park and marine sanctuary in Gujarat. A division bench, while dismissing a special leave petition, upheld the May 12, 1999 judgment of the high court which had ruled that the company had spent about Rs 19,000 crore on the mega project and it was not advisable to interfere at this stage when it was nearing completion. The high court order was challenged by a non-governmental organisation Gujarat Navodaya Mandal.