SC on NGO's opposition to development projects: 'How will country progress?'

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked how the country would progress if there was resistance to every development project, and dismissed an NGO's plea challenging a renewable energy project at Jayakwadi Dam, a designated bird sanctuary and eco-sensitive zone in Maharashtra.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh also had stern words for the Kahar Samaj Panch Committee NGO, according to news agency PTI.
"You are not allowing a single project to work. How will the country progress, if every project is opposed and resisted upon? Even with a solar power project, you have a problem," the bench said.
Further, the bench said it appeared the NGO was being funded by the company which had lost the tender for the proposed Floating Solar Power Project at the dam, and it was now trying to stall it by indulging in "frivolous litigation".
The judges rejected Kahar Samaj Panch Committee's argument that the area was an eco-sensitive zone and the project would affect the biodiversity, and upheld the National Green Tribunal's (NGO) September 2024 order rejecting the NGO's original plea.
The NGT's order, they observed, was "appropriate," adding that the green tribunal appropriately consulted the Union environment ministry, which referenced a Centre notification dated July 12, 2017, supporting renewable energy activities.
The NGT's western zone bench had noted there were no legal restrictions against such activities in eco-sensitive zones.
The NGO wants to halt the Floating Solar Power project, arguing it would harm aquatic life, biodiversity, and the bird sanctuary, while affecting drinking water and agricultural supplies.
It highlighted that the reservoir's submergence area of 36,000 hectare was designated as a wildlife sanctuary, arguing against the floating solar project based on environmental preservation principles.