BENGALURU: In a big win for environmentalists, the Supreme Court has upheld the Karnataka High Court’s stay on widening of the National Highway-4A between Karnataka and Goa passing through the fragile Western Ghats. It also dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The agency had challenged the high court’s stay order restraining it from carrying on with the project.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageshwar Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi, however, granted liberty to the NHAI to approach the Karnataka High Court for any relief.In November, 2019, the high court, in its interim order, had stayed the widening work on NH-4A as it did not have any valid environmental clearance or other approvals.
