Review Char Dham road-widening verdict: Joshi, Karan Singh write to CJI

Veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Congress veteran Karan Singh have appealed to the Supreme Court to review its 2021 judgement that permitted the widening of roads under the Char Dham Pariyojana in Uttarakhand.

The letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India BR Gavai was also endorsed by environmentalists and historians like Ramachandra Guha.

It said the judgement, if not reviewed, would have far reaching consequences in the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone, which is the originating valley of the Ganga and also the site for the recent disaster in Dharali.

An expert committee, set up by the Supreme Court, had recommended that the roads should not be widened beyond 5.5 metres, contrary to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ (MoRTH’s) recommendation of 10 metres.

As per the leader, “The Supreme Court through its judgment dated December 14, 2021, denied adequate judicial review and declared an unscientific and irrational circular dated December 15, 2020, issued by the MoRTH under the pretext of defence needs, as sacrosanct.”

“However, past experience and facts now show that it has been proven counterproductive and has made these routes highly unstable and unsafe for both defence and local mobility. Indeed, their heightened landslide susceptibility has now become a national security risk. Hence with the wisdom of the painful experience, we request to review and recall the judgment dated December 14, 2021,” added the letter.

The letter recalled that the matter of road widening of around 900-km in some of the most sensitive Himalayan river valleys, was heard in the apex court.

It noted, “The sponsoring agency, the MoRTH adopted an unsuitable road-configuration of double lane and paved shoulder with a 10-m tarred road and a 12-m formation width, claiming an acquisition of 24m for the right of way. It was in violation of its own 2018 circular that specifically recommended an intermediate width of 5.5-m tarred surface for hill and mountain roads, in view of the unsuitability of 10-m tarred width.”

The violation was acknowledged, and in September 2020, the SC issued a verdict in favour of the intermediate width to protect the fragile Himalayas and balance development with environment, the letter added.

However, on December 14, 2021, these directions were over-ruled by a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud in view of the MoRTH’s amended circular that mandated 10-m tarred road for feeder highways going to border areas.

“Therefore, neither the logical rationale that defence mobility is best served by a disaster-resilient road was given any consideration nor was there any consideration of the limitation of fragile Himalayan terrain,” highlighted the letter by the two veterans.

The two leaders cited a study of June-2025, which highlighted 811 landslide zones along the Char Dham project. A majority of these have caused by hill-cutting for the pupose of road widening. They said the SC’s judgment had proven counterproductive and hazardous for the Himalayan terrain.

“All the strategic routes like Badrinath, Gangotri, Pithauragarh are frequently blocked and are often unusable in the monsoon, while remaining risky and landslide prone throughout the year. Moreover, since the construction of Char Dham road-widening project, these otherwise stable routes are being hit by such massive and chronic landslides that are blocking all defence and local movement towards the border for several days,” the letter said.