What Happened
- A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha, issued an interim order directing the state government not to carry out any ground-level work on the proposed Sharavathi Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project (PSHP).
- The order came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Akhilesh Chipli of Shivamogga and two others, who challenged the project on grounds of ecological damage and violation of wildlife protection laws.
- The petitioners argued that no construction activity should be permitted within the Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary or its eco-sensitive buffer zone, citing restrictions under Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- The project — a 2,000 MW pumped storage plant by Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) — involves diversion of 142.76 hectares of forest land, felling of approximately 15,000 trees, and construction of 14 km of underground tunnels at an estimated cost of over ₹10,000 crore.
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had earlier rejected forest clearance in May 2025, citing risks of landslides and inadequate compensatory afforestation, though the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had accorded in-principle approval at its 84th Standing Committee meeting in June 2025.
- The next hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2026.
Static Topic Bridges
Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity
Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) is the most mature and widely deployed form of large-scale electricity storage. It works in two phases: during off-peak hours, surplus electricity (often from renewables) is used to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir; during peak demand, this water is released downhill through turbines to generate electricity. The Sharavathi project proposes to use the existing Talakalale dam (upper reservoir) and Gerusoppa dam (lower reservoir), connected by 14 km of underground tunnels.
- Round-trip efficiency of PSH is typically 70–80%, making it far more efficient than most battery technologies at grid scale.
- PSH can provide ancillary grid services: frequency regulation, spinning reserve, and black-start capability.
- India's National Electricity Plan targets 26.7 GW of pumped storage capacity by 2032, as part of a broader national roadmap to develop 100 GW of PSH by 2035–36.
- Approximately 22 GW of PSH projects are currently under various stages of development across India.
Connection to this news: The Sharavathi project is India's single largest proposed PSH plant at 2,000 MW and is central to Karnataka's grid balancing ambitions; its judicial stay illustrates the tension between India's aggressive renewable energy storage targets and on-ground ecological compliance requirements.
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — Section 29 and Sanctuary Restrictions
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 establishes a stringent legal regime for protected areas. Section 29 specifically prohibits any person from destroying, exploiting, or removing wildlife or forest produce from a sanctuary, or from diverting, stopping, or altering the flow of water into or outside a sanctuary, except under a permit granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden — and only when the state government, in consultation with the Wildlife Board, certifies such action is necessary for the improvement and better management of wildlife.
- A wildlife sanctuary cannot be de-notified or have its boundaries altered without a resolution by the state legislature (Section 26A).
- Any project within a sanctuary or its Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) requires prior clearance from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) Standing Committee before forest diversion can even be considered.
- The NBWL granted in-principle approval for 142.76 hectares of diversion at its 84th meeting (June 2025), but made final appraisal contingent on forest clearance — which MoEFCC denied in May 2025.
- Section 29 bars alteration of water flow, making any tunnel or reservoir infrastructure inside a sanctuary legally sensitive without appropriate permits.
Connection to this news: The petitioners' core argument rests on Section 29 — that the pumped-storage project would inevitably alter water flow patterns within the Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary, which is prohibited without statutory authorization.
Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 — Clearance Process for Diversion of Forest Land
The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 requires prior approval of the Central Government before any state government or authority can divert forest land for non-forest purposes. The clearance process has two stages: Stage 1 (in-principle clearance, issued after the EAC and NBWL examine the proposal) and Stage 2 (final clearance, granted after the proponent fulfils conditions including compensatory afforestation, payment to CAMPA, and gram sabha consent from affected villages).
- A 2009 MoEFCC order mandated gram sabha certification — confirming recognition of community forest rights — as a prerequisite for forest diversion proposals to be admissible.
- Compensatory afforestation must typically be done over twice the area of diverted forest land (non-forest land) or equivalent degraded forest.
- MoEFCC rejected Stage 1 clearance for the Sharavathi project in May 2025, citing risks of landslides in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats terrain and inadequate compensatory afforestation plans.
- Without Stage 1 clearance, the project cannot legally proceed to ground-level construction in forest areas.
Connection to this news: The MoEFCC's refusal to grant Stage 1 forest clearance, combined with the NBWL's conditional in-principle approval, created a legal vacuum that the petitioners leveraged — and which the High Court recognized by granting the interim stay.
Western Ghats Ecology and Biodiversity Significance
The Western Ghats is one of the world's eight recognized biodiversity hotspots and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 2012, covering 39 sites across six states). The Sharavathi Valley lies within this ecologically sensitive landscape, characterized by tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, Myristica swamps, and grasslands.
- The Western Ghats hosts at least 325 globally threatened species of flora and fauna, many of them endemic to this region.
- The Sharavathi Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary (930.16 sq km, expanded 2019) holds approximately 700 lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) — the largest population of this IUCN Endangered primate in any single protected area globally.
- The Gadgil Committee Report (2011) classified most of the Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) and recommended a near-complete ban on mining and large hydroelectric projects; the subsequent Kasturirangan Committee Report (2013) adopted a more limited ESA demarcation.
- The Western Ghats ESZ regulations require that any new project in the buffer zone undergo heightened scrutiny given its irreversible ecological consequences.
Connection to this news: The project site falls squarely within the sanctuary's core zone and its western Ghats ESZ buffer, making it one of the most ecologically contentious infrastructure proposals in recent years; the High Court's interim stay reflects judicial recognition of these compounded sensitivities.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) — Category A Projects and the Expert Appraisal Committee
Under the EIA Notification, 2006, large river valley and hydroelectric projects are classified as Category A projects, requiring environmental clearance directly from the MoEFCC (not the state) on the recommendation of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydro Projects. The EIA process involves scoping (Terms of Reference), baseline data collection, public hearing, submission of the final EIA report to the EAC, and then appraisal.
- Category A threshold for hydroelectric projects: installed capacity above 25 MW.
- The EAC determines Terms of Reference within 60 days of Form 1 submission; for Category A hydro projects, pre-construction clearance is typically granted alongside ToR.
- Public hearings must be conducted in the project-affected districts before the final EIA report is submitted.
- Environmental clearance from MoEFCC is distinct from forest clearance under the Forest Conservation Act — a project may receive one while being denied the other.
Connection to this news: The Sharavathi PSHP, at 2,000 MW, is a Category A project requiring MoEFCC environmental clearance. The denial of forest clearance (a parallel regulatory track) effectively blocked the project before environmental clearance proceedings could conclude — underlining how multiple statutory approvals must converge before large hydro projects can legally commence construction.
Key Facts & Data
- Project name: Sharavathi Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project (PSHP)
- Proponent: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL)
- Capacity: 2,000 MW (8 units × 250 MW) — proposed to be the largest PSH plant in India
- Estimated project cost: over ₹10,000 crore
- Location: Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada districts, Karnataka; within Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary
- Upper reservoir: Talakalale dam (62.48 m); Lower reservoir: Gerusoppa dam (~64 m); connected by 14 km underground tunnels
- Forest land to be diverted: 142.76 hectares; trees to be felled: approximately 15,000
- NBWL granted in-principle approval at 84th Standing Committee meeting (June 2025)
- MoEFCC rejected forest clearance (Stage 1) in May 2025 citing landslide risk and inadequate compensatory afforestation
- Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary: 930.16 sq km, established 1972, expanded 2019
- Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus): IUCN Endangered; sanctuary holds the world's largest single-protected-area population (~700 individuals)
- India's NEP target: 26.7 GW pumped storage by 2032; national roadmap targets 100 GW PSH by 2035–36
- PIL petitioners: Akhilesh Chipli (Shivamogga), Dr. Ravindranath Shanbhag (Udupi), C.B. Manohar Kumar (Shivamogga)
- Court bench: Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha (Karnataka High Court Division Bench)
- Next hearing: June 10, 2026