Guwahati: Oil India Ltd (OIL) will be able to approach the Supreme Court again with a fresh petition after the court permitted it to withdraw its existing interlocutory application concerning its Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) project beneath Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
The matter came up before a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, on Wednesday. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing OIL, sought an urgent hearing on the company’s application.
The bench said that if OIL had a fresh cause of action, it could withdraw the present application and file a new petition, which would then be considered by the court. The Chief Justice also said the registry could not list the interlocutory application because of an existing court direction.
Dwivedi told the bench that the application had been filed in the pending T N Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India matter, a case that has dealt extensively with forest conservation.
He sought urgent consideration of the matter because the proposed drilling area lies close to the national park. Dwivedi said the necessary permissions had already been obtained, but the government believed it was bound by a 2023 Supreme Court order that prohibits mining in national parks and other protected areas.
OIL’s counsel argued that the proposed activity should not be treated as mining. He said the pipeline and drilling facilities would remain outside the park, with the drilling reaching about 4,000 metres below the surface before moving horizontally.
The company has challenged a decision of the Forest Advisory Committee and the subsequent refusal by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to approve the diversion of 0.069 hectares of forest land for the project in Tinsukia district.
OIL has argued that the authorities wrongly applied the Supreme Court’s April 26, 2023 judgment, which prohibits mining inside national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as well as within one kilometre of their boundaries.
The company has maintained that hydrocarbon exploration and extraction through ERD is different from conventional mining. Its proposed method involves drilling from facilities outside a protected area and extending the wells underground to reach hydrocarbon reserves located beneath it.
For the Dibru-Saikhowa project, OIL has proposed drilling to depths of around 3,500 to 4,000 metres below the park, while keeping the surface infrastructure outside its boundary.
OIL has also relied on Supreme Court orders issued in 2017, under which it was allowed to extract hydrocarbons beneath the national park through ERD technology subject to specified conditions and safeguards.
The company has further referred to the Eco-Sensitive Zone notification issued for Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in January 2020. The notification covers areas ranging from zero to 8.7 km from different sections of the park boundary.
OIL said it received environmental clearance in May 2020 for extension drilling and hydrocarbon testing at seven locations beneath the national park. It said separate prior approval was still required for drilling activities involving forest land.
The company had requested that the court set aside the MoEFCC order dated August 2, 2024, along with the minutes of the Forest Advisory Committee meeting held on July 4, 2024.
OIL has also requested the Centre to approve the use of 0.069 hectares of forest land under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, for ERD operations beneath Dibru-Saikhowa National Park from the Baghjan Petroleum Mining Lease area in Tinsukia district.