Himachal Pradesh High Court quashes eco clearance to Grasim's Harish Cement

In a blow to the government move on mega cement plants, the Himachal Pradesh High Court yesterday quashed environmental clearance granted to a cement plant near Sundernagar in Mandi district.

The court also set aside the land acquisition proceedings at the site of the plant which was approved by the then government in 2005. The land acquisition process had run into problems with a section of farmers opposed to the acquisition.

Harish Cement India, a unit of Grasim Cements, had been first approved in 1995 by the then Congress government but it did not come up and after returning to power the Congress approved it again in 2005. The plant had been stoutly opposed by environmental groups as it was barely 5.6 kilometres from the Bandli wildlfe sanctuary.

The orders were passed yesterday by the green bench of the High Court. The petition was one of the six separate petitions filed by the affected locals, who had raised serious environmental concerns besides questioning the manner of granting clearance to the plant close to a wildlife sanctuary. The mandatory public hearing, under the Environment Protection Act 1986, prior to grant of approval was allegedly not held.

In its judgment, the bench of justice Deepak Gupta and justice Rajeev Sharma questioned how environmental clearances had been granted purely on external considerations, instead of forming an independent view on the basis of ground realities.

The judges also took note of the wildlife sanctuary in the vicinity, which had been totally overlooked.