Chennai : The Madras High Court quashed the state government order restraining implementation of the Kochi-Mangalore gas pipeline project passing through agricultural lands in seven districts of Tamil Nadu. The Gas Authority of India Limited had challenged the state government notification asking it to stop placing pipelines in agricultural lands and implement the project by laying them along National Highways. The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, today allowed the petition filed by GAIL seeking a direction to quash the order.
The project involves laying of pipelines across districts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
GAIL had first moved the court seeking a direction to Collectors and Superintendents of Police of seven districts in Tamil Nadu to provide protection enabling them to carry out the works.
Some 300 km of the pipeline project passes through Coimbatore, Tirupur, Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts of Tamil Nadu.
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