NEW DELHI: Clearing the decks for the redevelopment of the Pragati Maidan exhibition complex, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has junked a plea challenging the decision to turn it into a world-class convention centre.

The tribunal dismissed the plea on Wednesday which had also sought quashing of environmental clearance granted to the India Trade Promotion Organisation, which manages the exhibition complex.

The green panel said doubts have been expressed by the applicant on the reliability of the studies undertaken and the credibility of the Environment Impact Assessment Report, but they are not supported by better materials and the plea deserves to be rejected.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that the examination and scrutiny of the process do not reveal any substantial deficiency so as to vitiate the environmental clearance.

“The object of undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is founded on the principle of Sustainable Development and the Precautionary Principle,” it added.

The tribunal, however, said that it was necessary for the Union environment ministry and other regulatory authorities to ensure that each of the conditions of the environmental clearance is meticulously complied with by monitoring the project.