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28. In Narmada Bachao Andolan vs. Union of India and others 2000 (10) SCC 664 ) this Court opined:

"47. The project, in principle, was cleared more than 25 years ago when the foundation stone was laid by late Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Thereafter, there was an agreement of the four Chief Ministers, in 1974, namely, the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for the project to be undertaken. Then dispute arose with regard to the height of the dam which was settled with the award of the Tribunal being given in 1978. For a number of years, thereafter, final clearance was still not given. In the meantime some environmental studies were conducted. The final clearance was not given because or the environmental concern which is quite evident. Even though complete data which regard to the environment was not available, the Government did not 1987 finally give environmental clearance. It is thereafter that the construction of the dam was undertaken and hundreds of crores have been unvested before the petitioner chose to file a writ petition in 1994 challenging the decision to construct the dam and the clearance as was given. In our opinion, the petitioner which had been agitating against the dam since 1986 is guilty of laches in not approaching the Court at an earlier point of time."