Plea against laying of gas pipelines via farms rejected

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that the publication of the notification under Section 3 of Right of Users Act has not been issued so far. It is always open to any person interested in the land to submit his objections of laying the pipelines after the publication of the notification, the court said.

When the statute provides for submission of objections and hearing, there was no need to consider the representation and pass orders. “Such an eventuality is required only if there is a publication,” the bench said, dismissing the petition as premature.

Farmers of Vartanapalli, represented by VR Venkatesan, had moved the plea seeking to drop the proceedings in acquiring the land under the Right of Users Act, 1962.

The counsel appearing for HPCL submitted that due to site constraints and technical reasons, the pipeline alignment was proposed along the agricultural lands, that too only for a limited stretch of 1.9 km. Moreover, the lands would be used for a temporary period of three months for laying the pipeline. Thereafter, it would be restored to the landowners for agricultural use, the HPCL counsel said. The pipeline, the counsel added, would be laid at a minimum depth of two metres.

The total length of the proposed Vijayawada and Dharmapuri pipeline is 698 km of which 81 km was proposed to be laid in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.