KAMINI JAISWAL MS ADVOCATE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a practising advocate. She has filed the present petition as a public interest petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The respondents are the Gas Authority of India Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "gail") , the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ongc") , the central Pollution Control Board and the Union of India.

(2.) The petitioner contends that the high pressure gas pipelines laid by GAIL and/or ONGC are unsafe in certain specified places and are potentially hazardous. The petitioner has prayed that these pipelines should be closed until an independent enquiry by experts certifies and declares that these pipelines are safe for further operation. The petition was Filed pursuant to gas leakage from a high pressure gas pipeline of GAIL at Dhaula Kuan in Delhi on or about 8/7/1993.

(3.) Gail was formed in the year 1984 for the purpose of handling natural gas related activities. Originally ONGC had planned the HBJ pipeline which was to run from Hazira to Babrala and Jagdishpur for supply of gas to the fertilizer and power plants en route. This pipeline was taken over by GAIL from ONGC in the conceptualisation stage itself. Subsequently, GAIL added additional pipelines and spurlines to the HBJ pipeline. ONGC had also laid around 680 kms of pipelines in various locations of the country such as the Gujarat region, Assam region, Bombay region, K. G. basin, Cauvery basin etc. All these pipelines were transferred to GAIL during the period 1994-95. According to GAIL, a health check of all these lines was carried out when it took over these pipelines. After the check, necessary corrective action which included replacement of some of the pipelines was also taken by GAIL both from the safety point of view as well as operational point of view. As of now, GAIL operates a total of 2974.856 kms of pipelines.