NGT Dismisses Farmers' Challenge to Environmental Clearance for Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway Phase I
The NGT Western Zone Bench, Pune, dismissed a decade-old appeal against the 2016 environmental clearance for the 274-km Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway Phase I, finding no proved infirmity in the public consultation process.
The National Green Tribunal's Western Zone Bench at Pune has dismissed an appeal filed by Gujarat Khedut Samaj and three individual appellants seeking to set aside the Environmental Clearance dated 11 February 2016 granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to the National Highways Authority of India for Phase I of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway. The bench, comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh (Judicial Member) and Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (Expert Member), found that the appellants failed to produce evidence establishing any specific non-compliance with the public consultation procedure prescribed under the EIA Notification, 2006. The appeal, filed in 2016, had been pending for nearly a decade. By the time it was heard, substantial construction work on the project had already been completed, with one package receiving a Completion Certificate on 2 April 2024.
The Project and the Clearance Under Challenge
Phase I of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway covers 274.022 kilometres, running from km 104+700 to km 378+722. It passes through five Gujarat districts — Vadodara (54.4 km), Bharuch (62.5 km), Surat (57.3 km), Navsari (37.6 km) and Valsad (48.6 km) — along with a 5.5 km stretch in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 8.1 km in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. The proposed right of way is 100 to 120 metres wide.
NHAI submitted its proposal to MoEF&CC in 2010 under the EIA Notification, 2006, which lists national highways under Item 7(f) of its Schedule. Initial Terms of Reference were granted at the Expert Appraisal Committee meeting held from 21 to 23 September 2010. After NHAI modified the project proposal, revised Terms of Reference were issued on 14 November 2013. Public hearings were then conducted across five districts in February 2014 — Valsad on 18 February, Surat on 21 February, Bharuch on 24 February, Vadodara on 25 February, and Navsari on 28 February. Each hearing was attended by over 2,000 people from affected villages. The EAC considered the project at its 154th meeting on 22–23 December 2015 and recommended the grant of clearance. MoEF&CC issued the Environmental and CRZ Clearance on 11 February 2016.
Appellants' Grievances: Public Hearing Conduct and EIA Quality
The appellants raised a wide range of objections. On the public hearing process, they alleged that copies of the draft EIA were not circulated before the hearings, that three different versions of the draft EIA were uploaded on the Gujarat Pollution Control Board's website without indicating which would be relied upon, and that none of the versions was in the vernacular language. They further alleged that the summary of the minutes was not read out in the vernacular as required by Appendix IV, clause 6.1 of the EIA Notification, 2006, and that participants at the Valsad, Surat and Navsari hearings were not allowed to speak freely before the hearings were abruptly closed.
On the quality of the EIA itself, the appellants pointed to what they described as a copied document: the draft EIA at several places referred to the “Ganga Expressway” and benefits to farmers of Uttar Pradesh, suggesting the report was lifted from another project's EIA. They also contended that the EIA failed to assess cumulative environmental impact alongside parallel infrastructure — NH-8, a coastal highway, the Eastern Highway (SH-5), the Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Delhi railway line, the Dedicated Freight Corridor, and the proposed Bullet Train project — all running through the same districts.
Additional concerns included the absence of forest clearance for forested stretches, potential flooding and waterlogging from disruption of natural drainage across rivers and streams, impact on fertile agricultural land in an area declared an Agri-Export Zone, and the proximity of the expressway to critically polluted industrial areas at Vapi, Ankleshwar and Vadodara.
On limitation, the appellants argued that NHAI failed to advertise the EC in local newspapers or upload it on its own website as required by the EC's general conditions, and that they first learnt of the clearance from a Times of India report on 29 June 2016. They submitted that the limitation period could not begin to run until the mandatory post-EC publication steps were taken.
Respondents' Defence: Procedure Followed, Project of National Importance
NHAI and MoRTH contested the appeal on limitation grounds, arguing that the EC was published on MoEF&CC's website on 11 February 2016 and that the appellants, having participated in every public hearing, were deemed to have knowledge from that date. They submitted that the appeal was filed 168 days after the EC, beyond the 90-day period prescribed under Section 16 of the National Green Tribunal Act.
On the merits, NHAI submitted that the draft EIA and its executive summary in both English and Gujarati were submitted to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board on 11 December 2013. All five public hearings were videographed. Objections raised during the hearings were addressed in the Final EIA Report. The accreditation details of the consultant, Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., were submitted as part of the public hearing proceedings.
NHAI also addressed the drainage concern, stating that the Final EIA Report provided for 20 major bridges, 64 minor bridges, 37 canal bridges, 343 box culverts, 280 hume pipe culverts, and longitudinal drains on both sides of the road, along with a cross-drainage structure every kilometre. On tree loss, NHAI stated that 2,53,300 trees would be planted on both sides of the expressway and in the median, and that compensatory plantation costs and Net Present Value for diverted forest land would be paid to the Forest Department.
MoEF&CC confirmed that the Expert Appraisal Committee, after considering documents submitted by NHAI and additional clarifications, recommended the grant of EC and CRZ Clearance at its December 2015 meeting, and that the clearance was accorded following due process.
On the wildlife clearance condition, MoEF&CC clarified by letter dated 4 January 2018 that the condition requiring clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife was imposed “as applicable” and was not mandatory. Since NHAI had established that the project was 260 metres from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Wildlife Sanctuary and outside the eco-sensitive zone, the condition did not require compliance.
How the Tribunal Reasoned
The bench noted a significant development at the hearing stage: the appellants' main arguing counsel was unavailable and sought an adjournment. Given the age of the matter and prior adjournments, the bench declined and permitted the appellants to argue. The appellants' counsel who was present then admitted that the appeal was confined to procedural deficiency in the public hearing alone, and pressed no other ground.
On that limited question, the bench examined the affidavit filed by NHAI on 28 November 2016, which set out in detail how the public consultation process was conducted in accordance with the EIA Notification, 2006. The bench found that nothing in that affidavit had been controverted through proper evidence in the appellants' rejoinder. It therefore treated the account of the public hearing proceedings as correct.
The bench also relied on MoEF&CC's affidavit, which corroborated NHAI's version that the public consultation process was performed in accordance with the prescribed procedure. The bench concluded that no specific non-compliance had been pointed out and established by the appellants through evidence. It recorded that the public hearing procedure was in accordance with the EIA Notification, 2006.
Outcome
The bench dismissed Appeal No. 44/2016(WZ) with no order as to costs. The Environmental and CRZ Clearance dated 11 February 2016 granted to NHAI for Phase I of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway stands. The judgment was pronounced on 2 June 2026, reserved having been made on 9 April 2026.