Supreme Court - Daily Orders
State Of Punjab vs Amandeep Aggarwal And Ors. Etc. on 28 October, 2016
Bench: Chief Justice, D.Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL D.NO.33942 OF 2006
STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
AMANDEEP AGGARWAL AND ORS. ETC. RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
This appeal calls in question an order dated 19.05.2016 passed by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi in Original Application No.161 and 162 of 2016 whereby the Tribunal has while directing filing of certain information by the State of Punjab further directed that the State of Punjab shall not undertake felling or cutting of any trees in connection with projects proposed by any authority or department within the State of Punjab without prior permission of the Tribunal.
Mr.Mukul Rohatgi, learned Attorney General appearing for the State of Punjab submits that the order passed by the Tribunal is wholly unjustified having regard to the Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by ASHOK RAJ SINGH fact that the State of Punjab has obtained from the Date: 2017.03.09 14:16:36 IST Reason: competent authority all permissions required for felling of trees in connection with various ongoing projects. He 2 submits that without taking note of such permissions the Tribunal could not have issued a blanket ban on cutting of forest trees which would seriously hamper the ongoing developmental projects in connection with widening of the highway and in particular the construction of NH-71. It is submitted that while the petitioner is ready and willing to furnish whatever information is required by the Tribunal projects of national importance like widening of the highway mentioned above ought not to be hampered by reason of the impugned order. He submits that this Court could while permitting the petitioner State to approach the National Green Tribunal for vacation of the impugned order stay part of the said order qua NH-71 so that the ongoing project is not adversely affected.
There is in our opinion considerable merit in the submission made by Mr.Rohatgi. It is true that the State has been directed to secure certain information including the trees removed and those planted as also the scheme under which such plantation has been undertaken yet the the blanket ban on felling of trees placed by the Tribunal cannot be allowed to adversely affect the ongoing works on the highway mentioned earlier. In the circumstances therefore we deem it proper to suspend the impugned order for a period of four months from today to enable the State Government to not only execute the ongoing project mentioned above but also the other projects which are 3 likely to be affected by the impugned order. We make it clear that the Tribunal shall be at liberty to pass any fresh order qua the projects that are already approved upon consideration of the materials that the State of Punjab may place on record. We are conscious of the fact that we are not issuing any notice to the respondent while we are suspending a part of the impugned order concerning NH-71. We are doing so only to avoid any delay in service of notice upon the respondent and the final order that may be passed. We however leave it open to the respondent, petitioner before the Tribunal to raise all such contentions as may be open to him in law after the requisite information is received by the Tribunal.
With the aforesaid observation, this appeal is disposed off.
.....................CJI (T.S. THAKUR) .......................J (DR. D.Y. CHANDRACHUD) .......................J (L. NAGESWARA RAO) NEW DELHI OCTOBER 28, 2016 4 REVISED ITEM NO.30 COURT NO.1 SECTION XVII S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Civil Appeal Diary No(s).33942/2016 STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. Appellant(s) VERSUS AMANDEEP AGGARWAL AND ORS. ETC. Respondent(s) (with appln. (s) for condonation of delay in filing appeal) Date : 28/10/2016 This appeal was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE L. NAGESWARA RAO For Appellant(s) Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, AG Mr. Nikhil Nayyar, AAG Ms. Kiran Bhardwaj, Adv.
For Respondent(s) UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Delay condoned.
The civil appeal is disposed off in terms of the signed order.
(Ashok Raj Singh) (Veena Khera)
Court Master Court Master
(Signed Order is placed in the file)