Govt behaving like Kumbhakarna: SC

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Rohinton F Nariman said the government could be compared to Kumbhakarna, for it was sleeping over reports on determining the feasibility of 24 projects in Uttarakhand despite several reminders from the court.

“It is the fault of the Union of India. You (government) are behaving like Kumbhakarna. The reports should have been here… before us, as we asked you repeatedly on the last date of hearing. He was always sleeping and so do you,” observed the bench.

It strongly disapproved of the government’s failure to adduce specific reports regarding every project that had been stalled by the court in August 2013 after noting they were significantly impacting biodiversity in two sub-basins of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers.

“How can the government act in such a cavalier manner? We wanted you to give us a report on each and every project so that we could examine them individually. We don’t appreciate the manner in which the government has conducted itself,” it said.

As it questioned the government’s real intention, the Centre’s counsel R S Sodhi said they were committed to ensuring that biodiversity of the region is not disturbed and no clearance is granted to any HEP until and unless it satisfied all the fundamental criteria.

“This (HEP) was the executive’s baby. Now you have to decide whether this baby needs to be nurtured and protected or not. Ecological balance also needs to be maintained. We would say that a balanced approach is required… Electricity also needs to be generated. A holistic view is therefore required,” said the bench.