Pointing out that there is no mala fide in the application filed by the Ministry of Defence to widen the roads for the operational requirement of the Armed Forces, the bench said the highways, which are strategic roads for the forces, cannot be compared to any other hilly or mountainous roads.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO ‘Citizens for Green Doon’ seeking direction to stop the felling of trees without clearances on the Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A), which is a part of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway.

In 2018, the Centre’s notification said that the road width cannot exceed 5.5 meters in the hilly terrains like the one through which the Chardham project is proposed. In September 2020, the top court directed the government to keep the width of the Chardham road at 5.5 meters.

In December 2020, the Defence Ministry had sought permission from the top court to widen roads for national security and contended that three national highways — Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri, and Tanakpur to Pithoragarh — lead up to the northern border with China, which acts as feeder roads.

The Chardham highway is a 900-kilometer road project to provide all-weather connectivity to the four Hindu pilgrimage centres in Uttarakhand.

(With inputs from agencies)