The court made this ruling in response to a petition filed by a group of Goan villagers who went by the name Ganv Bavancho Ekvott and questioned the railroads' authority to start building a second railway line through their community. The villagers have b

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Digital Desk: The Bombay High Court in Goa has held that the Indian Railways are not required to obtain prior approval under the Environmental Protection Act from authorities before laying lines or starting construction within regions in the protected coastal zone. The court further stated that Section 11 of the Railways Act exempted railway authorities from almost all laws unless expressly required by statute or by the Supreme Court.

The court made this ruling in response to a petition filed by a group of Goan villagers who went by the name Ganv Bavancho Ekvott and questioned the railroads' authority to start building a second railway line through their community. The villagers have been protesting the proposal, claiming that it will boost the capacity of the railway to transport coal.

"If indeed the legislature intended for the laying of a railway line or other incidental activities to be prohibited under the Environmental Protection Act, the 2011 CRZ [Coastal Regulation Zone] notification, or even under the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on September 14, 2006 (Environment Clearance notification), such a prohibition could have been included, but only after amendment of the Railways Act and not before," a bench of Chie said. On Monday, the order was uploaded.

Any railway administration would be required to get this environmental clearance if the Supreme Court were to rule in the future that a rail line cannot be installed in a CRZ area without permission from the relevant Coastal Management Authority.

The court stated: "However, so long as such a requirement is not expressly set forth in any judicial order, the mere fact that the railway authorities in this case have sought approval from the forest and wildlife authorities would not ipso facto impose upon SWR [South Western Railway] and RVNL [Rail Vikas Nigam] the obligation to obtain environmental clearance from the GCZMA [Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority]."

Between Hospet in Karnataka and Vasco-da-Gama in Goa, a 362.73 km line has been doubled by the Indian Railways. According to officials, 79.23% of the work, mostly in Karnataka, has been finished. 27 percent of the project work of 21.49 kilometres, or 79 km, in Goa, has also been finished.