PANAJI: The Supreme Court has upheld the Central Empowered Committee (CEC)’s recommendation for revoking the clearances for doubling the railway line between Goa’s Mormugao Port and Tinaighat in Karnataka through the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats, saying there was no substantial basis to undertake the project.
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) approved the project in April 2020 and triggered protests in Goa.
“The Ministry of Railways or RVNL [Rail Vikas Nigam Limited] have failed to provide any substantial basis for the requirement of doubling the railway line…,” a bench of Justices L Nageshwara Rao, B R Gavai, and Aniruddha Bose said on Monday.
