New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop the ongoing work on raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 110.64 to 121.92 metres.

The court asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a decision one way or the other after the receipt of the report from the Sardar Sarovar Project Relief and Rehabilitation Oversight Group constituted by him to verify the status of the rehabilitation of the project affected families in Madhya Pradesh.

A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice S.B. Sinha said that there was a serious dispute over the relief and rehabilitation (R and R) of the oustees in terms of the Narmada Tribunal award and the decisions of this court. It said broadly there were two issues before it: whether relief and rehabilitation of the oustees could be completed simultaneously with raising of the height of the dam and secondly the validity and operation of the special relief package.

The Bench referred to the submissions of the Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam about the constitution of a three-member group to look into the R and R work and the work assigned to 40 teams of the NSSO to conduct the survey.

The Bench noted that on both issues, an appropriate decision could be taken only after the report of the group formed by the Prime Minister was available. It said the ASG had stated that the group would submit its report to the Prime Minister by the end of June and once the report was available the Prime Minister would be in a better position to take a decision in the matter.

The Bench said "We hope and expect [that] the Prime Minister will be able to take a decision on or before July 3 and the decision taken shall be placed on record along with requisite material." It expressed the hope that all parties concerned would fully cooperate and not cause any obstruction in the work of the survey teams constituted by the group. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on July 7.

Earlier, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan appearing for the Narmada Bachao Andolan pleaded for stopping the construction work as R and R was not done as per the apex court judgments — that relief and rehabilitation work should be completed one year prior to the start of construction to raise the height of the dam and six months prior to the actual submergence. He refuted the claim of Madhya Pradesh that all the oustees had already been rehabilitated. He pleaded for appointment of a committee by the court to verify the R and R work.

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