Drilling in Dibru-Saikhowa: Gauhati High Court directs OIL to file 'para-wise reply'

GUWAHATI: A division bench of the Gauhati High Court has directed OIL Chairman/Director Corporate Office, Noida and OIL GM, Duliajan, Assam to file 'para-wise reply' to the petition – PIL 35/ 2020 – on oil and gas exploration in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

State Forest department's counsel PN Goswami, who represented the Principal Secretary of the Environment and Forest department and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and State Board of Wildlife Chairman, and Assistant Solicitor General of India SC Kayal, who appeared for the Union of India and the Union Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, have also been asked to file replies on behalf of the respondents by September 21, 2020. The PIL has been listed for September 30, 2020 for the next hearing. Two public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in the High Court. While pleading that the Dibru-Saikhowa is a National Park as well as a biosphere reserve, and designated as such in July 1997, the petitioners have challenged the legality and validity of the environmental clearance/approval dated May 11, 2020 granted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change to OIL for extension of drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations in the Park.

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