The Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal has directed the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to consider the plea of Tril Info Park Limited seeking approval for the expansion of the Special Economic Zone in Tambaram. Tril Info Park Ltd’s director, Ramanujam, submitted that the company was established in 2008 as a joint venture between the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd., and Indian Hotels Company Ltd to set up an Information Technology Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The petitioner stated that on July 24, 2012 Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) granted ‘Consent to Operate’ for construction of the SEZ comprising an IT Park, integrated international convention centre, hotel, residential and retail complex at a total investment of `3,988 crore, of which, according to the company, `2,393 crore has already been expended toward the construction of the SEZ. But the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), through an official memorandum dated December 12, 2012, held that the project was launched without adherence to requirements under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011. According to the SEIAA also, the district environmental engineer, in a report dated June 18, 2014, said the applicant (Tril Info Park Ltd) not only changed the original scope of the project, but also violated the provisions of Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, by carrying out additional construction. It was a clear case of violation of guidelines and the project has been delisted by the authorities, the SEIAA added. The petitioner contended that the firm had already obtained all clearances from authorities concerned and therefore the memo dated December 12, 2012 was not applicable to the project. It was further submitted that the firm has already obtained environmental impact assessment clearance and environmental clearance from the SEIAA. The Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal comprising Justice M Chockalingam and expert member R Nagendran observed that the tribunal feels it is not necessary to go into the validity of the official memorandum dated December 12, 2012 since the matter was pending before it, and issued a direction to the SEIAA to consider the application of the applicant and pass suitable orders thereon, in accordance with the law.