The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted Oil India to withdraw an interlocutory application and file a fresh plea seeking to overturn the rejection of its proposal by the Centre for Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) linked to hydrocarbon extraction beneath Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was urged by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Oil India, that the plea was extremely urgent and be listed for hearing.
“This is extremely urgent because the area is on the fringes of a national park. All permissions have been granted, but the government considers itself bound by a 2023 order of this court banning mining. This is not mining. The pipeline is being laid outside the park. It goes 4,000 metres underground and then proceeds horizontally,” Dwivedi said.
He said the application has been filed in a pending case titled TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India of 1995, a landmark piece of litigation that has played a pivotal role in shaping forest conservation and environmental jurisprudence.
Dwivedi highlighted the urgency of the matter and said the proposed project was crucial to the country’s energy requirements.
He told the bench that the registry was not numbering the interlocutory application because of an earlier direction that no such applications would be taken on board in the pending matter.
The CJI said that if there was a fresh cause of action, the applicant could file a new petition.
“We wanted to close that entire matter. If there is a fresh cause, file a fresh petition and we will entertain it. The registry cannot list the interlocutory application because there is an order to that effect,” the CJI said.
Dwivedi stressed the importance of the project, submitting that it concerned nearly three per cent of the country’s oil requirement.
He requested the bench to permit withdrawal of the interlocutory application with liberty to institute a fresh petition, adding that the matter could be taken up either at the beginning or the end of the day’s proceedings.
“The interlocutory application, as requested, is allowed to be withdrawn with liberty to file a fresh petition,” the bench said.
The PSU, in its plea, has challenged the Forest Advisory Committee’s decision and the subsequent action of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) refusing approval for the diversion of 0.069 hectares of forest land for the project in Tinsukia district.
The company said that the authorities wrongly applied the Supreme Court’s April 26, 2023 judgment prohibiting mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within one kilometre of their boundaries.
According to OIL, hydrocarbon exploration and production through Extended Reach Drilling cannot be equated with conventional mining.
The company has submitted that oil and gas operations are governed by a separate legal and regulatory framework and that ERD involves drilling from pads located outside the protected area to access hydrocarbon reservoirs several kilometres below the surface.
OIL said that the proposed drilling would target hydrocarbon deposits at depths of around 3,500 to 4,000 metres beneath the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, while the drilling infrastructure would remain outside the park boundary.
The company has also relied on earlier orders of the top court in 2017, when it was permitted, subject to conditions and safeguards, to extract hydrocarbons beneath the national park using ERD technology.
It said the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife had recommended the proposal and that the top court subsequently allowed sub-surface hydrocarbon extraction, subject to compliance with environmental and wildlife protection conditions.
The application further referred to the Eco-Sensitive Zone notification issued for Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in January 2020, under which the eco-sensitive zone extends from zero to 8.7 kilometres around parts of the park’s boundary.
OIL said it had also received environmental clearance in May 2020 for extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations beneath the national park, although drilling in forest areas required separate prior approval.
It sought setting aside the order of August 02, 2024 passed by the MoEFCC and also minutes of the meeting of the Forest Advisory Committee of the MoEFCC on July 4, 2024.
“Direct the Respondent No.1 to grant approval under section 2(1)(ii) of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 for non-forestry use of 0.069 Hectare of forest land for Extended Reach Drilling under Dibru Saikhowa National Park from Baghjan PML in Tinsukia Wildlife Division, Tinsukia in the State of Assam,” the plea said.