GOs allotting marshland to State departments quashed

CHENNAI: Two GOs issued in 2013 and 2014 to the State Transport department for construction of a regional transport office (RTO) and to the Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments department for establishment of the TN Music and Fine Arts University, have been quashed by the Madras High Court.
“There is no need to bring water from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu as per a poem by poet Bharathi, if the water is properly stored in wetlands instead of letting it run to the ocean,”a division bench of Justices M Venugopal (since retired) and Justice S Vaidyanathan said.

The judges were passing orders on a PIL petition from I H Sekar of Nature Trust, who sought to quash two GOs of the Revenue department issued in January 2013 and June 2014, transferring 2.83.50 hectares and another 12.72.00 hectares in favour of the two departments and consequently direct the Kanchipuram District Collector to restore, protect and preserve the entire extent of ‘back water (Kazhuveli) land’ lying along the sides of Buckingham Canal in the Revenue district of Kancheepuram, on April 29 last.  
“It is needless to state that in case of any encroachment on the wetlands, the secretary of TN State Wet Land Authority of the Environment and Forest department shall immediately act upon and ensure that all encroachments are removed without showing any indulgence/sympathy to them, by showing the order of this court,” the bench said.

The initial step is to disconnect the water and electricity supply by informing the CMWSSB and the Tangedco. No civil court shall grant any interim order without invoking Order 18 Rule 18 of CPC (which provides for the legal leniency to the Court to personally inspect the property or thing in question and prepare a memorandum of such inspection, which can then be taken upon the records of the case matter) and the inspection needs to be videographed and photographed. The Authority must ensure that there is no further encroachment and illegal constructions made on the wetlands, by way of periodical inspections, the bench said and fixed the responsibility on the Chief Secretary and the Wet Land Authority and his/her team for survey and removal of the encroachments. Any negligence/lethargic attitude noticed shall be viewed seriously, the judges added.

“The main object for introduction of the new Rules, namely, the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, is that the wetlands shall be conserved and managed in accordance with the principle of ‘wise use’ as determined by the Wetlands Authority. But, the decision of the government in transferring such lands will certainly defeat the purpose, for which, the new Rule was introduced,” the bench said.

Rejecting the government’s contention that only a small portion of the wetland was transferred, the bench said the starting point for encroachment is an allotment of small portion of environmental areas for some other purpose and later on, it will be widespread throughout. Though six feet space is sufficient for burial of a body, several burials will become a graveyard.

Referring to a song sung by famous and illustrious playback singer late T M Soundararajan for the late matinee icon M G Ramachandran, the meaning of which was that “Which resource is not available in our country? Why should we beg from other countries? Work in agricultural land and your reputation will be high in the alien countries...” The judges observed that if the water and its storage places are not properly preserved/maintained, the day is not far off for us to beg water from other States/ countries.

For dereliction of duty in removing the encroachments on wetlands, water bodies and other water resources, the government is entitled to take action against the officials, the bench said. They may be placed under suspension and even dismissed from service for their misconduct, dereliction of duty, showing no devotion to work and lack of integrity, it added.

Since they were passing orders on a PIL, it is applicable to all places and departments and there is no need for giving any separate directions to various departments. Non-compliance of any of the directions shall be brought to the notice of this court, which would take suo-motu contempt against the violators and punish them with imprisonment, if there are willful and deliberate disobedience, the judges added.