NAGPUR: The principal bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) at Delhi in its final order has cautioned the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) that only administrative conditions should be fulfilled and no tree felling should take place before the final approval under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act is issued by the state government for any project.
Disposing of the petition filed by city-based biologist Milind Pariwakam, NGT directed the Central government to put up such final approvals on their website thus making them accessible to the public so they could exercise their right of appeal in case of any grievance. The NGT also asked the state governments to put up final approvals accorded for forest land diversion on their website and follow other necessary provisions to make the order known to public in accordance with the law.
Pariwakam, on February 20, had challenged circulars issued by MoEFCC on August 8 and August 15, 2014, that simplified the procedure in respect of linear projects and directed that in-principle approval granted under the FCA should be considered as permission for felling trees and commencement of work without waiting for final approval.
The petitioner had contended that the said relaxation given by the MoEFCC was contrary to the procedure prescribed in the FCA 1980 that clearly stated that only after final approval and order under FCA, trees could be felled and that in-principle approval was not an approval as contemplated in law since the FCA did not make any mention of in-principle approval.
MoEFCC counsel admitted to legal lacuna in the communication of the ministry that had taken away the statutory right of appeal of people to appeal against violations of the environment. NGT examined the affidavit of the MoEFCC and found it had still not corrected all the legal lacunae and was forced to issue an order to correct the lacunae.
NGT ordered that the two letters of MoEFCC giving relaxation to linear projects were to be read in conjunction with NGT order. The NGT, however, refused to look into substantial matter of why linear projects qualified for special exemptions when their negative impact was disproportionately large and whether the same was in violation of National Forest Policy (NFP). The relaxation given to linear projects are also in violation of several National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) guidelines and is unscientific.
