Supreme Court declines to
stay Silver Line survey in Kerala [28.3.2022]
New Delhi, 28.3.2022, Tuesday
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stop stone
laying for K-Rail project (SilveLine) as part of the social impact assessment
survey, which is facing stiff resistance in Kerala.
Considering a petition filed by Aluva native Sunil J Arakal, the
apex court said it cannot intervene n the survey proceedings at present. The
court also flayed the Kerala High Court's single-bench order that stayed the
survey process.
The division bench of Kerala High Court had, on March 14,
quashed a single-bench order which stayed The division bench of Kerala High
Court had, on March 14, quashed a single-bench order which stayed the survey
proceedings for the project.
"The state government is vested with adequate powers to
conduct the survey, and mark the properties appropriately, for the social
impact assessment (SIA) study," the High Court had observed.
Sunil approached the Supreme Court against the division-bench
order. In his petition, Sunil argued that that the survey proceedings were
carried out in violation of the rules laid in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013
The Kerala government's ambitious SilverLine project, which is
expected to reduce travel time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to around
four hours from 12 at present, is being opposed by the opposition Congress-led
UDF.