Govt failed to adhere to the plan of reviving Adyar and Cooum rivers, and Buckingham Canal within 36 months from April 2015.
Chennai:
A division bench comprising Justice Krishnan Ramasamy and Justice R Subbaiah, before whom the appeal moved by the government came up for hearing, stayed the tribunal’s order on the penalty, and issued notice to the tribunal and petitioner Jawaharlal Shanmugam.
Taking exception to the Tamil Nadu government failing to restore bodies within the stipulated time, the NGT had on February 13 directed it to pay the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Rs 100 crore to enable it undertake efforts to revise the three waterbodies.
Aggrieved by this, the government had moved the appeal stating that NGT’s order suffered from non-application of mind based on mistake of fact; was contrary to principles of natural justice; and was arbitrary and unreasonable. Moreover, the order of the tribunal in imposing such a penalty was outside the scope of the powers conferred under the NGT Act, it contended.
The government further submitted that the tribunal had failed to note that the zonal bench was monitoring the issue and continuous steps had been taken for protection of ecology and development of the environment of the canal and periodic status reports have been filed by the departments.
But NGT had failed to consider and see the previous reports and steps taken by the Water Resources Department of the PWD and other governmental agencies, and had instead passed the order on an assumption and on mistaken fact that there was failure on part of the authorities to curb pollution and remove encroachments.
Further, noting that tribunal has failed to take into consideration the fact that encroachments were to be removed in accordance with appropriate laws, and more importantly, by providing alternate accommodation as most of them were economically weak, the plea said more than 8,000 families have been resettled from the banks of Cooum river, and 4,000 families from Adyar river.
But these facts have not been properly considered by the tribunal, which took a mistaken stand that no proper steps had been taken and there was failure on part of the authorities, the plea said, and added that the tribunal failed to understand that imposing such a cost would cause unnecessary financial burden on the State exchequer and such funds can be diverted to other public projects.
The Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on the Rs 100 crore penalty imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for failing to adhere to the plan of reviving Adyar and Cooum rivers, and Buckingham Canal within 36 months from April 2015.
A division bench comprising Justice Krishnan Ramasamy and Justice R Subbaiah, before whom the appeal moved by the government came up for hearing, stayed the tribunal’s order on the penalty, and issued notice to the tribunal and petitioner Jawaharlal Shanmugam.
Taking exception to the Tamil Nadu government failing to restore bodies within the stipulated time, the NGT had on February 13 directed it to pay the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Rs 100 crore to enable it undertake efforts to revise the three waterbodies.
Aggrieved by this, the government had moved the appeal stating that NGT’s order suffered from non-application of mind based on mistake of fact; was contrary to principles of natural justice; and was arbitrary and unreasonable. Moreover, the order of the tribunal in imposing such a penalty was outside the scope of the powers conferred under the NGT Act, it contended.
The government further submitted that the tribunal had failed to note that the zonal bench was monitoring the issue and continuous steps had been taken for protection of ecology and development of the environment of the canal and periodic status reports have been filed by the departments.
But NGT had failed to consider and see the previous reports and steps taken by the Water Resources Department of the PWD and other governmental agencies, and had instead passed the order on an assumption and on mistaken fact that there was failure on part of the authorities to curb pollution and remove encroachments.
Further, noting that tribunal has failed to take into consideration the fact that encroachments were to be removed in accordance with appropriate laws, and more importantly, by providing alternate accommodation as most of them were economically weak, the plea said more than 8,000 families have been resettled from the banks of Cooum river, and 4,000 families from Adyar river.
But these facts have not been properly considered by the tribunal, which took a mistaken stand that no proper steps had been taken and there was failure on part of the authorities, the plea said, and added that the tribunal failed to understand that imposing such a cost would cause unnecessary financial burden on the State exchequer and such funds can be diverted to other public projects.