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Supreme Court orders RDA to explain its position on elevated expressway
View(s):By Wasantha Ramanayake
The direction was made when counsel Raweendranath Dabare for petitioner- respondents Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) pointed out that the appellant RDA had been unable to support their appeal before the Supreme Court for several months, preventing the CEJ from proceeding with its original application in the Court of Appeal against the RDA’s proposed construction of the elevated expressway across Thalangama wetland.
The Bench comprised Justice Priyantha Jayawardane, Justice Shiran Gunaratne and Justice Mahinda Samayawardhena.
The RDA had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Appeal Court order that had refused RDA’ s objections raised in the Court of Appeal.
The RDA had objected to the CEJ application in the Court of Appeal that the Thalangama Environment Protection area had been re-gazetted permitting the construction of the proposed expressway across the wetland.
However, the Court of Appeal refused the objections by the RDA and proceeded to hear the CEJ’s petition.
The CEJ has also challenged in the Court of Appeal the gazette that brought amendments to permit the construction of the expressway through the wetland.
President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva appeared for the RDA.
The Court of Appeal, earlier, in February issued an interim order preventing the construction of the expressway until the conclusion of a writ application filed by a resident of Thalangama who claimed that the construction of the expressway would damage the sensitive eco-system of the Thalangama wetland which has been gazetted as an environmental protection area. He sought the intervention of the Court to nullify the decision of RDA to construct the expressway.
The date of appeal has been fixed for December 1.
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