ESSAR OIL LIMITED Vs. HALAR UTKARSH SAMITI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Delay condoned. Leave granted.

(2.) Jamnagar Marine National Park and Sanctuary lie along the lower lip of the Gulf of Katchch in the State of Gujarat covering reserve forests and territorial waters. Essar Oil Ltd., Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. (B.O.R.L.) and Gujarat Positra Port Co. Ltd., seek to lay pipelines to pump crude oil from a single buoy mooring in the Gulf across a portion of the Marine National Park and Marine Sanctuary to their oil refineries in Jamnagar district. On the basis of separate public interest litigation petitions filed by Halar Utkarsh Samiti and Jansangharsh Manch, the High Court, by the impugned judgment, has held that B.O.R.L. may lay its pipelines but the others may not and has restrained the State Government from granting any more authorisations and permission for laying down any pipeline in any part of the sanctuary or national park. B.O.R.L. was allowed to lay its pipelines by High Court, since permission to do so had already been granted to it by the State Government and since no such permission had, according to the High Court, been granted to Essar Oil, its application together with all pending applications were to be decided in accordance with what had been decided by the Court. This decision of the High Court has given rise to a series of special leave petitions, which are :

(3.) Leave is granted in all these matters. In addition, there is a transfer petition relating to a writ petition filed by Halar Utkarsh Samiti challenging three specific orders passed by the State Government in connection with the grant of permission to B.O.R.L. The writ petition is transferred to this Court and is disposed of by us.