The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Madras High Court order which quashed the land acquisition process for the `10,000-crore Salem-Chennai eight-lane green corridor project.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and MR Shah however issued notices to the parties including the Tamil Nadu government
the appeal of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), an autonomous agency of the central government which has challenged the high court order.
“We are going to issue notices on the special leave petition (SLP)... We are not going to stay the high court's order,” it said, while declining the plea of the Project Implementation Unit of NHAI that the high court's order be stayed.
NHAI had moved the top court on May 31 and the bench had then agreed to hear the appeal.
The high court had held that the environmental clearance was mandatory for the sensitive project.
The high court's order had come on a batch of petitions filed by 35 land owners and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss. The pleas had challenged the land acquisition proceedings.
