Justice Harisankar V Menon, delivering the ruling on Friday, directed the government to establish a fresh committee of independent specialists without conflicts of interest. The new panel must examine complaints from coastal residents and consider the views of affected stakeholders.
The judgment follows a petition by 128 residents of fishing villages within 20 kilometres north of the port, who alleged that construction activities, particularly breakwaters, had accelerated shoreline erosion, damaged homes and threatened livelihoods. They also claimed that sand accumulated south of the project.
The disputed committee, constituted under a government order dated 6 October 2022, had concluded that the port was not responsible for the erosion. Its assessment largely attributed shoreline changes to natural phenomena, including cyclones and high-wave activity.
The court held that the committee’s composition was flawed because of concerns about earlier professional associations involving members and the project under examination. It made clear, however, that it was not deciding whether the committee’s scientific conclusions were correct or whether port construction had actually caused erosion.
The four-member panel was chaired by M D Kudale, a former additional director of the Central Water and Power Research Station in Pune. The petitioners pointed out that he had previously served on a technical subcommittee involved in developing the Vizhinjam project.
Justice Menon noted that Kudale’s earlier involvement was not disputed by the respondents. Given that association, his appointment to a body expected to independently assess the project’s environmental consequences should have been avoided, the court observed.
The petitioners also highlighted a scientific paper published in 2010 in which Kudale discussed how breakwaters and dredging could interfere with coastal sediment movement, producing erosion on one side of a development and accumulation on the other.
The court considered the apparent contrast between that discussion and the committee’s subsequent findings. It stressed that the earlier publication was relevant to the challenge concerning independence, rather than proof that the final report’s conclusions were scientifically unsound.
Questions were also raised about committee member P V Chandramohan, who the petitioners said had been associated with Navayuga Engineering Company. They cited business connections between that company and Adani Enterprises, linked to the port’s concessionaire. The court noted that the relevant allegations about professional associations had not been effectively denied.
Another objection concerned Riji K John, whose appointment as vice-chancellor of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies had been quashed. The court did not accept that this circumstance alone disqualified him from membership of the expert committee.
The judges also considered criticism of the panel’s investigation. Petitioners said it had undertaken only one site inspection, on 23 May 2023, and had held a single meeting with local inhabitants before preparing its assessment. Those limitations formed part of the circumstances examined when assessing the panel’s independence.
The government defended its position, maintaining that high waves and cyclonic conditions explained the erosion. It argued that the port’s location between rocky promontories restricted the movement of sediment along the shoreline. Authorities also referred to rehabilitation measures provided to affected households.
Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited and the concessionaire defended the project’s statutory environmental approvals and questioned the timing of the petition. The court rejected the objection based on delay, observing that the challenge concerned a committee established by the government in 2022.
(The article ‘HC invalidates Vizhinjam coastal erosion panel’ appeared first on Free Press Journal.)
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