India, Oct. 5 -- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to shut out a former bureaucrat from pursuing her legal challenge to the statutory approvals secured by the Centre and the Andaman and Nicobar administration for the Rs.920-billion Great Nicobar Island project, instead asking the Calcutta High Court to fast-track the proceedings and decide the challenge at the earliest.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said that the issue could not be decided merely on the question of maintainability, which had been settled by the high court, and indicated that the larger question of whether the public-interest challenge continued to survive would have to be examined by the high court.

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