Driven primarily by the argument of national security, the Supreme Court last week dismissed environmental concerns over the contentious 825-km Char Dham highway expansion project in Uttarakhand and allowed a 10 metre-wide double lane with paved shoulder (DL-PS) configuration for 674 km of roads leading to the Indo-China border. However, a close reading of the judgment in view of the court-appointed high powered committee’s (HPC) reports, the court’s earlier orders, and the government’s own affidavits and applications filed in court makes it clear that the that the judgment properly addresses neither environmental concerns or defence needs and is actually counterproductive to both. In another setback to the environmental concerns, the judgment also misinterpreted the 2012 Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (BESZ) notification’s 2018 amendment by stating that the study of environmental impacts is not required to build defence infrastructure in the area demarcated for the zone. The December 14, 2021 judgment by Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath also said that the “Court, in its exercise of judicial review, cannot second-guess the infrastructural needs of the Armed Forces”. Yet, ironically, that is precisely what the bench has gone and done. This is because the defence ministry’s own submission, originally made in 2020, never even asked for a 1.5 metre x 2 shoulder which would make the 7-metre road it wanted 10 metres wide. Despite this, the final judgment modified the Supreme Court’s interim order of September 8, 2020, which had restricted the carriageway width to 5.5 m along with 1.5 m raised footpath to minimise environmental impacts. A study of the separate affidavits submitted in court by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the apex court’s final order on the width of the road MoRTH’s agenda more than it does defence requirements – as does the decision to pave the way for 151 km non-strategic roads to be widened to DL-PS configuration as well. In its November 27, 2020 application, the defence ministry requested the Supreme Court to allow a double-lane road with a 7 m tarred surface for a length of 674 km: 231 km Rishikesh-Gangotri (NH-94 and NH-108) 281 km Rishikesh-Mana (NH-58) 162 km Tanakpur-Pithoragarh (NH-125) However, the judgment went beyond the ministry’s requirements, allowing the DL-PS configuration, which has a 10 m tarred surface. “We thus allow MoD’s (application) … by permitting the DL-PS configuration for the three strategic highways,” the judgment said. Environmentalists have said that despite the consequences of hill-cutting, including landslides, it was MoRTH’s agenda to get the project built based on DL-PS standards – i.e. with 7 m carriageway plus 1.5 m paved shoulders on both sides. Mallika Bhanot, who is a member of Ganga Ahvaan, a conservation-related forum, and is actively involved with the issue, said, “The defence ministry’s application had requested for 7 m roads, not 10 m. The judgment fulfills MoRTH’s agenda while citing defence requirements.”