HC dismisses PIL against Adani railway line

The Gujarat high court on Friday dismissed a PIL objecting to laying of railway tracks between Mundra and Adipur and construction of compound wall in the Adani Port Special Economic Zone in Kutch district. The objection was raised in 2011, by Ullasba Barach of Luni village.

Besides taking exception to construction of tracks parallel to the existing ones, she claimed that the company could not put up the compound wall along the tracks without permission from the village panchayat. She also demanded that an underbridge to be constructed at Luni.

A bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala turned down the PIL.

The court noticed that the railway line is within the SEZ that has been notified in 2006. The company has permission to construct railway line and it is entitled to do so.

The court also held that as per the provisions of the SEZ Act and rules framed there under, the company could construct compound wall along the railway line which was part of the special zone.

The court also observed that once the area was notified as SEZ, it ceased to be under the control of the village panchayat, and hence the company was not required to take permission of the panchayat for the construction.

In regards with the construction of underbridge, the court said that it was not an expert to decide whether a bridge should be provided at any location. Moreover, once the plan was approved by the railway authorities, the court could not interfere with the decision.