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GAIL (India) Ltd, whose plans to lay a gas pipeline through Tamil Nadu have been blocked by the State Government, has contended in the Madras High Court that the State Government’s order usurps the authority of the Centre and its agencies.
When hearing on GAIL’s petition against the Tamil Nadu Government’s order commenced today, GAIL said the Centre and its agencies had followed statutory processes to lay the pipeline, including the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines Act. The land had been vested with the Central Government and compensation paid. But the State Government’s order seeks to nullify this process.
GAIL’s counsel said the Tamil Nadu Government was yet to file its counter.
GAIL filed a writ petition on April 25 challenging the State Government order of April 2 directing it to stop laying the pipeline across agricultural fields and align it along the highways, for its proposed Kochi-Bangalore gas pipeline project. The order followed protests against the project by the farmers through whose land the pipeline passes.
GAIL is laying the 1,146-km inter-State natural gas pipeline with a 310-km section passing through seven districts of western Tamil Nadu.
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