The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined the plea to stay the work being undertaken by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for drawing a 110-kV power line over a plot of land known as Santhivanam at North Paravur.
When a writ petition filed by Meena Menon, the owner of the land, seeking a directive to the State government and the KSEB to initiate proceedings afresh to shift the proposed 110-kV line and to relocate the towers being constructed on the property of the petitioner came up, the counsel for the petitioner sought an interim stay on the work being done by the KSEB.
According to the petitioner, work for drawing the line will destroy all flora and fauna on the land. The additional district magistrate should have directed the KSEB to draw the line over the alternative route. Despite material to show that the drawing of the line would damage the ecology of the land, the additional district magistrate had failed to issue effective orders preventing the KSEB from undertaking the works.
The KSEB, while defending its decision to draw the line over the petitioner’s property, pointed out that the shifting of alignment was not feasible. The route was approved, causing least inconvenience and damage to the petitioner’s property. As per Regulation 58(4) of the Central Electricity Authority Safety Regulations 2010, the minimum ground clearance required for a 110-kV line was 6.1 metre. But in the case of the petitioner, the board had decided to provide 19.4 metre as vertical clearance.
The affidavit of the KSEB also said that the petitioner’s land did not qualify to be forestland since it was not notified as such. Of the 30 towers proposed in the project, 15 had already been erected and foundation for the remaining towers was almost complete. The total length of line was 7.5 km. The line had already been drawn for more than 2 km. Therefore, any deviation from the approved route was not technically and economically feasible.
The KSEB said the petitioner’s allegation that the Board had changed the original alignment at the instance of the family of a former KSEB chairman was absolutely false.