The Madras High Court decided to take a call on Friday on a plea to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the issuance of a draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification until it was translated in all vernacular languages, and adequate time was granted to the stakeholders to express their opinions.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha directed central government standing counsel Rabu Manohar to take notice on behalf of the Centre on a PIL petition filed by K.R. Selvaraj Kumar, president of an association of fishermen, and present the stand of the Centre on Friday considering the urgency involved.
When the judges pointed out that the Karnataka High Court appeared to have taken cognisance of the issue and granted an interim stay, the petitioner’s counsel Stanly Hebzon Singh told the judges that the case before Karnataka High Court was only for issuing a translated copy in Kannada whereas here he was seeking it in all languages.
Stating that the Centre had now granted time only till August 11 for stakeholders to submit their views on the draft notification, he urged that some interim orders must be passed in the case until it could be disposed of finally.
