National Green Tribunal
Ankur Sharma vs The State Of West Bengal on 8 September, 2022
Item No.03 Court No.1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
EASTERN ZONE BENCH, KOLKATA
(Through Video Conferencing)
Original Application No.33/2022/EZ
Ankur Sharma Applicant(s)
Versus
The State of West Bengal & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 08.09.2022.
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MR. SAIBAL DASGUPTA, EXPERT MEMBER
For Applicant(s) : Mr. Ankur Sharma, in person
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sudip Kumar Dutta, Advocate for R-1,4,6,7,8,9 & 11,
Mr. Debasish Ghosh, Advocate for R-2 (in Virtual Mode),
Mr. Surendra Kumar, Advocate for R-3,
Mr. Prithwish Basu, Advocate for R-5,
Mr. Sandipan Banerjee, Advocate a/w Ms. Amrita Pandey
(in Virtual Mode) for R-10,
Mr. Aritra Basu, Advocate a/w Ratul Das (in Virtual Mode) for R-12,
Mr. Kallol Basu, Advocate a/w Mr. Sibojyoti Chakraborty,
Advocate for R-13
ORDER
1. Mr. Ankur Sharma, the Applicant, is present in person.
2. Affidavit dated 05.09.2022 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent No.7, Fisheries Department, Government of West Bengal; the same is taken on record.
3. Affidavit dated 06.09.2022 has been filed on behalf of the Additional District Magistrate & District Land & Land Reforms Officer, Howrah; the same is taken on record.
4. Affidavit-in-opposition dated 07.09.2022 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent No.10, Howrah Municipal Corporation; the same is taken on record.
5. Supplementary-affidavit dated 07.09.2022 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent No.12, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HIDCO); the same is taken on record.
1
6. Affidavit dated 07.09.2022 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent No.13, Howrah Improvement Trust; the same is taken on record.
7. The West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HIDCO), in para 5 of its affidavit dated 07.09.2022 has stated that out of the total area of the Sports City aggregating to 53.3459 acres of land, the water body comprises of 10.2893 acres of land.
8. However, in para 7 of the affidavit dated 06.09.2022 the chart filed by Additional District Magistrate & District Land & Land Reforms Officer, Howrah shows the waterbodies comprising of Nala (1.7679 acre), Doba (1.8635 acre) and Pukur (3.9557 acre), the total of which comes to 7.5871 acres.
9. In Annexure-'B' of the affidavit dated 07.09.2022 filed by HIDCO Sheet numbers have been shown but we find that the sheet numbers do not tally with the Sheet numbers shown in para 6 of the affidavit dated 06.09.2022 filed by ADM and DL&LRO, Howrah in as much as Sheet Nos.21 and 31 do not appear in the Map in Annexure-'B' filed by HIDCO. The total area of Sheet nos.21 and 31 comes to 0.9028 acres. If this 0.9028 acres is added to 10.2893 acres, the total comes to 11.1921 acres of water body. Similarly, some of the Plot numbers within the Sheets are also not tallying with the Plot numbers as filed in the affidavit of ADM and DL&LRO, Howrah.
10. Since Sheet nos. 21 and 31 are not shown in the Annexure-'B' of HIDCO Map, we direct the HIDCO authorities to sit with the ADM and DL&LRO, Howrah and reconcile the discrepancy in figures and thereafter, file a fresh affidavit within two weeks. 2
11. List on 23.09.2022.
..................................... B. Amit Sthalekar, JM ................................... Saibal Dasgupta, EM September 08, 2022, Original Application No.33/2022/EZ SKB 3