NDLI: Citizens for Green Doon Vs. Union of India and Others

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	National Green Tribunal Act 2010: s.14 s.16
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (69 of 1980) National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (19 of 2010)
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Disposed Off
Headnote	National Green Tribunal Act 2010: s.14, s.16 – Appellant had earlier moved a petition under Art.32 of the Constitution to challenge the Stage-I Forest Clearances (FC) – This Court had by its order reserved the liberty of the appellants to adopt appropriate proceedings by moving the National Green Tribunal to challenge the Stage-I Forest Clearances – Appellant filed O.A. before the Tribunal invoking its jurisdiction under s.14(1) of the NGT Act – Tribunal declined to entertain challenge, primarily on the ground that the appellants had attempted to ‘circumvent’ its appellate jurisdiction under s.16 by invoking its original jurisdiction under s.14 instead – In the instant appeal, contention of appellant was that on 11.09.2021, an application was moved before the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) under the RTI Act seeking a specific disclosure of information on whether any permission for the felling of trees had been granted – Response of the DFO to the query was that there was no order for the felling of trees – However, in the additional documents filed on behalf of the respondents, order dated 27.08.2021 of the DFO, permitting the felling of trees, was placed on the record – Thus, an extensive exercise of tree cutting was carried out without placing order dated 27.08.2021 in the public domain, despite the mandate of the circular dated 28.08.2015 and as a result, not only the appellant but the other parties were precluded from moving the Tribunal in exercise of its appellate jurisdiction – Held: The provisions of s.2 of FC Act contemplate passing of an order by the State Government with the prior approval of the Central Government so as to, inter alia, permit the conversion or use of forest land for non-forest purpose – Therefore, unless an order has been passed or a decision is made, the appellate remedy before the Tribunal would not be available – Circular dated 28.08.2015 was issued by MoEF&CC to prescribe a simplified procedure for the grant of permissions for felling of trees standing on forest land to be diverted for execution of linear projects – Clause (i) of paragraph 2 of the circular indicates that in order to facilitate the expeditious execution of projects involving linear diversion of forest land, including laying of new roads, an in-principle approval of the Central Government under the FC Act would be deemed as working permission for tree cutting and commencement of work subject to certain conditions – The DFO misled the appellants by furnishing incorrect information in response to the RTI query – The purpose of placing the permission in the public domain is to ensure that persons aggrieved would have a right to challenge it – There is no rebuttal to this grievance of the appellant – This lack of transparency, leading to a lack of accountability, is in stark contrast to the “environmental rule of law”, which is crucial for good governance – In terms of the provisions contained in circular dated 28.08.2021, the order for tree cutting and commencement of work of linear projects is to be treated as an order under s.2 of the FC Act – Evidently, therefore, order dated 27.08.2021 is amenable to the remedy of an appeal, which would now lie before Tribunal under s.16(e) of the NGT Act – Since order dated 27.08.2021 is amenable to an appellate remedy under s.16(e) of the NGT Act, as well as under the provisions of s.2A of the FC Act, when read in the context of circular dated 28.08.2015, it would be appropriate to grant liberty to the appellant to do so – The Tribunal was moved by the appellant by invoking the jurisdiction under s.14, under which it has jurisdiction to entertain civil cases where a substantial question relating to the environment, including enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment, is involved and such question arises out of the implementation of the enactments specified in Schedule I – The enactments which are specified in Schedule I include the FC Act – Thus, where a substantial question relating to the environment is raised involving the implementation of the FC Act, even the original jurisdiction of the Tribunal under s.14 could have been invoked – Tribunal was not justified in rejecting the application filed by the appellants under s.14 by observing that the appellant was attempting to circumvent the remedy of an appeal under s.16 – Tribunal is directed to pass a reasoned order on merits – Appeal be listed before the Tribunal on the next working day after the filing of the appeal by the appellant – Appellant would be at liberty to move the Tribunal for interim orders – Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 – s.2.
Judge	Hon'ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud
Neutral Citation	2021 INSC 740
Petitioner	Citizens For Green Doon
Respondent	Union Of India And Others
SCR	[2021] 11 S.C.R. 968
Judgement Date	2021-11-16
Case Number	6497-6498

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