NGT Can’t Discharge Its Function By Merely Relying On Report Of Court Commissioner Without Even Considering Stand Of Parties: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court quashed the orders of the National Green Tribunal declaring an area surrounding the Gokulpur Talab as no development zone and asserted that the Tribunal can’t discharge its function by merely relying on a report of the Court Commissioner without even considering the stand of the parties before it.
The three appeals before the Apex Court challenged the judgment of the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi (NGT). One appeal was filed by the State Government, another by the Special Armed Forces and the third one by the private individuals affected by the orders passed by the NGT.
The Division Bench comprising Justice B.R.Gavai & Justice K.V. Viswanathan said, “A tribunal is expected to carefully consider the material placed before it and the contentions raised on behalf of both the parties.”
Senior Advocate M C Dhingra represented the Appellants while AOR Sugandha Anand represented the Respondents.
The Respondent had filed an Original Application praying for directions to preserve and protect the area known as Bajrang Nagar Pahadi in village Karondi in District Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.In the year 2016, the NGT appointed one of its Former Expert Member as a Court Commissioner and he was asked to submit a report. Accepting this report, the Tribunal declared an area within the distance of one kilometer surrounding the Gokulpur Talab as no development zone. Being aggrieved, the appeals were filed before the Supreme Court.
For the appellants, it was contended that if the directions issued by the NGT are implemented, the entire developmental activities would come to a standstill. It was their case that the specific objection of the State of Madhya Pradesh, that there is a direct and indirect catchment area, has not at all been considered by the NGT.
The Bench noticed that the Master Plan did not show the area under consideration as a direct catchment area of Gokulpur Talab as well as Narmada river. However, the NGT had not at all taken into consideration the objections raised by the State of Madhya Pradesh in the reply and it accepted the recommendation of the Court Commissioner as it is.
It was noted that if the report of the Court Commissioner is to be accepted, an area admeasuring 12.32 square kilometers surrounding the lake will have to be declared as no development area and a substantial part of construction in the Jabalpur City itself would be affected.
“The impugned order passed by the learned NGT does not depict any independent consideration but a mere acceptance of the report of the Court Commissioner as it is”, the Bench said.
The Court also referred to its recent judgment in Benzo Chem Industrial Private Limited v. Arvind Manohar Mahajan and Others whereby the practice of the NGT of basing its judgment on outsourced material has been deprecated. The Bench further talked about the decision making role of the Tribunal and said, “It cannot discharge its function by merely relying on a report of the Court Commissioner without even considering the stand of the parties before it.”
Thus, the Bench allowed the appeals, quashed the impugned judgments and held, “Needless to add that the permission for development which was granted after obtaining the approval of the State Environment Impact Assessment Agency (SEIAA) would continue to operate. Further, if any specific period is provided for such activities, the time from the date of stay granted by the learned NGT till today, shall stand excluded.”
Cause Title:S. N. Dubey & Ors. v. Raman Khandelwal & Ors. [Neutral Citation: 2024 INSC 931]
Appearance:
Appellants: Senior Advocates M C Dhingra, Saurabh Mishra, Government Advocate Sarthak Raizada, Advocates Vinod Kumar Shukla, Mr. Abhaya Nath Das, Mr. B C Bhatt, Monica Goel, Hukum Deo Prasad, Kishor Kumar Mishra, Om Prakash Sapra, AOR Satish Kumar, AOR Sarad Kumar Singhania, Advocate Aarushi Singh, AOR Gopal Jha
Respondents: AOR Sugandha Anand, AOR Gaurav Kejriwal, Advocates Gaurav Choudhary, Anmoldeep Singh, Happy Chaubey, Raghav Sharma, Jaskirat Pal Singh, Jaskirat Pal Singh, Pranjal Pandey, AOR Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR Anuradha Mishra, Advocates Arvind Kumar, Ankit Kumar Vats, James Bedi, Abhay Kumar Mishra, Abhay Kumar Vats, Anuradha Mishra