The Supreme Court noted that preserving human life is just as important as conserving the environment when approving the construction of railway overbridges in West Bengal as part of the Setu Bharatam project. 

The committee's conclusion that bridges must be built to relieve the congestion at the railroad crossing was noted by the bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath. The committee's position on whether the alternate suggestions will keep the trees was also left unclear. The bench looked at this background and noted:

"The contest between development and environmental concerns is ever ongoing. While there is no doubt that ecology and environment need to be protected for the future generations, at the same time, development projects cannot be stalled, which are necessary not only for the economic development of the country, but at times for the safety of the citizens as well. No doubt that the protection of environment and ecology are important. However, at the same time, it cannot be denied that human life is also equally important".

"On account of non-construction of ROBs, a number of accidents have taken place at Railway Crossings resulting in death of hundreds of human beings. The Report of the Committee itself would show that there is a congestion, on account of which, the construction of the project is necessary. They have given an alternative that instead of ROBs local over bridges can be constructed".

After observing that the High Court had limited the number of trees that might be cut down to just 356, as well as placed conditions on the State Government for compensatory afforestation, the bench dismissed the petition challenging the High Court's judgement. 

The bench did not dismiss the case, nonetheless, and continued to evaluate the experts' report on compensating conservation in India.

"We would appreciate, if the Central Government holds joint meeting with all the stake holders including the representatives of all the State Governments/Union Territories and come out with a unified proposal for consideration of this Court", the bench ordered.

Case Title : Association for Protection of Democratic Rights vs State of West Bengal 
Citation: SLP(C) No.25047/2018

Appearance of the Advocates:-

Mr. Harish N. Salve, Sr. Adv. [A.C.] (N.P.)
Ms. Aparajita Singh, Sr. Advocate [A.C.] (N.P.)
Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Advocate [A.C.],
Mr. Rahul Mishra,Adv.
Mr. Dhuli Shiv Shankar,Adv.
Ms. Agrimaa Singh,Adv.
Mr. K. Parameshwar, Advocate [A.C.]
Ms. Kanti,Adv.
Ms. Arti Gupta,Adv.
Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, Advocate [A.C.]
(N.P.)
 Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
 Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G.
 Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
 Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv.
 Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv.
 Mr. Chinmayee Chandra, Adv.
 Mr. S.S. Rebello, Adv.
 Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv.
 Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv.
 Mr. Sughosh Subramanyam, Adv.
Ms. Shagun Thakur,Adv.
Ms. Manisha Chaya,Adv.
Mr. Rohan Gupta,Adv.
 Mr. K.M. Nataraj,ASG
 Mr. Abhay Anil Anturkar, Adv.
 Mr. Anuj Udupa, Adv.
 Mr. Dhruv Tank, Adv.
 Ms. Surbhi Kapoor, AOR
 Mr. K.M. Natraj,ASG
Ms. Indira Bhakar,Adv.
Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar,Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kr. Verma,Adv.
Mr. Neeraj Kr. Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Akshit Pradhan,Adv.
Mr. Nakul Chengappa K.K.,Adv.
Mr. S.N. Terdal,Adv.
Mr. Balbir Singh,ASG
Mr. Piyush Beriwal,Adv.
Mr. Naman Tandon,Adv.
Ms. Suhasini Sen,Adv.
Mr. Navanjay Mohapatra,Adv.
Mr. Samarvir Singh,Adv.
Mr. Amrish Kumar,AOR
 Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR
 Mr. Anup Kumar Rattan, Adv.General, Sr. Adv.
 Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, A.A.G.
 Mr. Puneet Rajta, Adv.
 Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv.
 Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv.
 Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv.
 Mr. Dharmendra Kr. Sinha, Adv.
Dr. Manish Singhvi,Sr.Adv.
 Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
 Mr. Ashok Basoya, Adv.
Ms. Aruna Gupta,Adv.
Mr. Ramesh Allanki,ADv.
Mr. Vundavalli Aruna Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Nandram,Adv.
 Mr. V. K. Shukla, Sr. Adv.
 Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv.
 Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv.
 Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR
 Mr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
 Mr. D.K. Devesh, AOR
 Mr. Arpit Parkash, Adv.
 Mr. Harsh Singh Rawat, Adv.
 Mrs. Snehal U. Kanzarkar, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar,Sr.Adv.
Ms. Ila Sheel,Adv.
Mr. Shikhar Sheel,Adv.
Mr. Karan Mathur,Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari,Adv.
Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande,Adv.
Mr. Bharat Bagla,Adv.
Ms. Kirti Dadheech,Adv.
Mr. G.S. Gerwal,Adv.
Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma,Adv.
Mr. S.K. Rajora,Adv.
Mr. Akhileshwar Jha,Adv.
Mr. Narendra Pal Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Ajay Bansal,Adv.
Mr. Gaurav Yadava,Adv.
Ms. Veena Bansal,Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swaroop,Adv.
Ms. Sujata Kurdukar,Adv.
Mr. Tomy Chako,ADv.
Mr. Shiv Singh Yadav,Adv
Ms. Priya Ranjan Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Krishnam Mishra,Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Atrey,Adv.
Ms. Ambika Atrey,Adv.
Mr. Omkar Jayant Deshpande,Adv.
Mr. Shashi Bhushan P. Adgaonkar,Adv.
Mrs. Pradnya S. Adgaonkar,Adv.
M/s. Khaitan and Co., AOR
Mr. Somiran Sharma, Adv.
Mr. B.K. Pal, AOR
Mr. Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, AOR
M/S Mitter And Mitter Co., AOR
Ms. Ranjeeta Rohtagi, AOR
Mr. C. S. Ashri, AOR
Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR
Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR
Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
Mr. Ashutosh Thakur,Adv.
Dr. Sumit Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Chandra Pratap,Adv.
Ms. Mrigna Shekhar,Adv.
Ms. Aarushi Singh,Adv.
Mr. Harsh Parashar, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Aggarwal, AOR
Mr. K.V. Vijayakumar, AOR
Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR
Mr. Siddharatha Jha, AOR
Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR
Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, AOR
Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR
M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR
Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR
Mr. Kunal Cheema, AOR
Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR
Ms. Suman Yadav, AOR
Mr. Vinod Ghai,Sr.Adv./AG Punjab
Mr. Aman Pal,AAG
Mr. Ajay Pal,Adv.
Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR
 Mrs. Suroor Mander, Adv.
 Mr. Bhavanishankar V. Gadnis,, Adv.
 Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR
 Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR
 Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR
 M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
 Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR
 Dr. (mrs. ) Vipin Gupta, AOR
 M/S. J S Wad And Co, AOR
 M/S. K J John And Co, AOR
 Mrs. Sudha Gupta, AOR
 Mr. Chander Shekhar Ashri, AOR
 Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR
 M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR
 Mr. Yashraj Singh Deora, AOR
 Ms. Madhu Sikri, AOR
 Mr. Ninad Lad, Adv.
 Mr. Jayant Mohan, AOR
 Mr. Ivo Costa, Adv.
 Ms. Rashika Narain, Adv.
 Ms. Adya Shree Dutta, Adv.
 Mr. Mohan Pandey, AOR
 Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR
 Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
 Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR
 Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR
 Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Adv.
 Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR
 Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv.
 Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv.
 Ms. Kshitij Singh, Adv.
 By Courts Motion, AOR
 Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR
 M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR
 Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR
 Mr. Mohd Parvez Dabas, Adv.
 Mr. Uzmi Jamil Husain, Adv.
 Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR
 M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR
 Mr. Yashraj Singh Deora, Adv.
 Mr. Siddhant Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Priyesh Mohan Srivastava, Adv.
 Mr. Abhishek Singh, Adv.
 M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
 Shri. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR
 Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR
 Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, Adv.
 Mr. Anupam Bhati, Adv.
 Mr. Nakul Chaudhary, Adv.
 Mr. Waseem Akhtar Khan, Adv.
 Mr. Amir Kaleem, Adv.
 Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
 Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.
 Mr. Sai Shashank, Adv.
 Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR
 Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR
 Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR
 Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR
 Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR
 Mr. Lakshay Saini, Adv.
 Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR
 Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR
 Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR
 Mr. Vijay Kari Singh, Adv.
 M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR
 Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR
 Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR
 M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR
 Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR
 Ms. S. Janani, AOR
 Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR
 Mr. Surya Kant, AOR
 Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR
 Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AOR
 Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR
 Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR
 Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR
Mr. Subodh Kr. Pathak,Adv.
Mr. Vinod Kr. Soni,ADv.
Mr. Shashi Ranjan,Adv.
Mr. Pawan Kumar Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Akash Swami,Adv.
 Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR
 Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR
 Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR
 Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR
 Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR
 Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR
 Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR
 Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR
 Mr. Dushyant Singh Chauhan, Adv.
 Mr. Nitin Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR
 Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR
 Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR
 Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR
 Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR
 Mr. Rajesh, AOR
 M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR
 Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR
 Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR
 Mr. M. C. Dhingra, AOR
 Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR
 Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR
 Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR
 Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR
 Mr. S. R. Setia, AOR
 Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR
 Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR
 Mr. T. V. George, AOR
 Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR
 Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
 Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Adv.
 Dr. Sumit Kumar, Adv.
 Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR
 Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR
 Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR
 Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR
 Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR
 Mr. Rathin Das, AOR
 Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR
 Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR
 Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR
 Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR
 Mr. Vikas Kumar Singh, Adv.
 Ms. Rajshree Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Vikram Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Sham Chand, Adv.
 Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR
 Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR
 Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR
 Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR
 Mr. G. Prakash, AOR
 Mr. Rauf Rahim, AOR
 Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv.
 Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR
 Ms. Urvi Kapoor, Adv.
 Ms. Harshita Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi,Adv.
Mr. Upendra Mishra,Adv.
Mr. P.S. Negi,Adv.
Mr. Rakesh Chaudhary,Adv.
Mr. Naresh Kumar,Adv.
 Mr. B V Deepak, AOR
 Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR
 Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, AOR
 Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR
 Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR
 Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR
 Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR
 Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
 Mr. Ravinder Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv.
 Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv.
 Ms. Raveesha Gupta, Adv.
 Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Adv.
 Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv.
 Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv.
 Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv.
 Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv.
 Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR
 Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR
 Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR
 Mr. Gurmeet Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Amar Kumar Raizada, Adv.
 Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR
 Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR
 Mr. R. Ramesh, Adv.
 Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR
 Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR
 Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR
 Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
 Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR
 Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR
 Ms. Divya Roy, AOR
 Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR
 Mr. Tarun Johri, Adv.
 Mr. Ankur Gupta, Adv.
 Mr. Vishwajeet Tyagi, Adv.
 Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR
 Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR
 Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR
 Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR
 M/S. K J John And Co, AOR
 Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR
 Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR
 Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR
 Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR
 M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
 Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR
 Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR
 Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR
 Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR
 Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR
 Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR
 Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR
 Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
 Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR
 Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR
 Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
 Mr. Naresh Kumar, AOR
 Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR
 Mr. P.K. Manohar, AOR
 Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR
 Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv.
 Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, AOR
 Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv.
 Mr. Vaibhav Sabharwal, Adv.
 Mr. Akshay Kumar, Adv.
 Mr. Rajan Parmar, Adv.
 Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR
 Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR
 Mrs. Niranjana Singh, AOR
 Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR
Mr. Rahul Garg,Adv.
 Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR
 Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR
 Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR
 Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR
 Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR
 Mr. Vishal Bansal, Adv.
 Ms. Rajshwari Shankar, Adv.
 Mr. Niroop Sukirthy, Adv.
 Mr. Md. Ovais, Adv.
 Mr. Aravindh S., AOR
 Ms. Uma Bhuvaneshwari, Adv.
 Mr. Abbas.b, Adv.
 M/S. D.S.K. Legal, AOR
 Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR
 Mr. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR
 Mrs. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv.
 Dr. Manish Singhvi Sr, Adv.
 Mr. Arpit Parkash, Adv.
 Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR
Mr. Sanjay Parikh,Sr.Adv.
Ms. Srishti Agnihotri,Adv.
Ms. Satwik Parikh,Adv.
Ms. Sanjana Grace Thomas,Adv.
Ms. Mantika Vohra,Adv.
 Mr. Ravindra Keshavrao Adsure, Adv.
 Mr. Rohan Darade, Adv.
 Mr. Lav Mishra, Adv.
 Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR
 Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR
 Mr. Dhanesh Ieshdhan, Adv.
 Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G.
 Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv.
 Mr. Naman Tondon, Adv.
 Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv.
 Mr. Samarvir Singh, Adv.
 Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv.
 Mr. T.s. Sabarish, Adv.
 Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
 Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR
 Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR
 Mr. Ritesh Patil, Adv.
 Mr. M. R. Shamshad, AOR
 Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR
 Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR
Ms. Prerna Singh,Adv.
 Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
 Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR
 Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Adv.
 Mr. Vyom Raghuvanshi, Adv.
 Mr. Kazi Sangay Thupden, Adv.
 Ms. Eisha Krishan, Adv.
 Ms. Mansi Bacheni, Adv.
 Ms. Gitanjali Sanyal, Adv.
 Mr. Deep Rao Palepu, Adv.
 Mr. Syed Jafar Alam, AOR
 Mr. Arjun Agarwal, Adv.
 M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AOR
 Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR
 Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR
Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha,AAG
Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh,Adv.
 Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Shwetank Singh,?Adv.
Ms. Beena Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Wills Mathews,Adv.
Mr. Paul Johnedison,Adv.
Ms. Deepa Joseph,Adv.
Ms. Sweta Garg,Adv.
Ms. Kavya S. Lokande,Adv.
Ms. Niharika Dewivedi,Adv.
Ms. Sweta Sand,Adv.
Mr. Ravish Kumar Goyal,Adv.
Mr. Nitin Sharma,Adv.
Mr. E. Vinay Kumar,Adv.
 Mr. Gautam Jha, Adv.
 Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR
 Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR
 M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR
 Mr. P Venkat Reddy, Adv.
 Mr. Prashant Kumar Tyagi, Adv.
 Mr. P Srinivas Reddy, Adv.
 Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR
 Nishanth Patil, AOR
 Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR
 Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR
 Mr. Shobhit Dwivedi, Adv.
 Ms. Vaidehi Rastogi, Adv.
 Mrs. Garima Prashad, Sr. Adv.
 Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR
 Ms. Kanishka Mitral, Adv.
 Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR
 Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR
 Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Adv.
 Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv.
 Mr. Simanta Kumar, Adv.
 Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR
Mr. Saket Singh,Adv.
Ms. Sangeeta Singh,Adv.
Ms. Niranjana Singh,Adv.
 Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR
 Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR
 Mr. K.M. Nataraj, Solicitor General
 Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
 Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv.
 Mr. Mukesh Kr. Verma, Adv.
 Mr. Neeraj Kr . Sharma, Adv.
 Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
 Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR
 Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR
 Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR
 Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR