National Green Tribunal
Vijay Chawla vs Ministry Of Environment Forest And ... on 16 November, 2022
Author: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Item No. 06 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
(By Video Conferencing)
Original Application No.234/2022
(With report dated 14.11.2022)
Vijay Chawla Applicant
Versus
Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 16.11.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE PROF. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Sidhinath Sengar, Advocate
Respondent(s): Mr. Rahul Khurana, Advocate for the State of Haryana & HSPCB
Mr. Raj Panjwani, Senior Advocate with Mr. Saurabh Rajpal,
Advocate for SVC & Lahri (R - 10)
ORDER
1. Grievance in this application is against cutting of trees in Village Sarai Khawaja, Faridabad, by Respondent No. 10, SVC & Lehri, Jublee Hills, Hyderabad, in violation of order of this Tribunal dated 08.03.2019 in O.A. No. 407/2017, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi vs. State of Haryana & Ors. holding the area to be 'deemed forest'. FIR dated 10.01.2020 has been filed by the Forest Department but still cutting of trees is continuing by Respondent No. 10, in violation of law without remedial action.
1
2. Vide order dated 13.04.2022, the Tribunal sought a factual report from DFO, Faridabad, District Magistrate, Faridabad and State PCB and also directed that if on verification it is found that cutting of trees and construction activities are illegal, the authorities may ensure remedial action, including prevention of illegal cutting of trees and stopping construction activities without requisite consent/clearance under environmental laws from statutory regulators.
3. An action taken report has been filed on 14.11.2022 inter-alia acknowledging that the area in question is deemed forest and FIR was lodged on 10.01.2020 against illegal felling of trees. The relevant extracts from the report are:
"Status of the land and provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 & the Forest Conservation Act, 1980
8. The Aravali Notification, 1492 is not applicable to the load in question. The said notification is applicable to district Gurgaon and Mewat only and not to the district Faridabad.
9. The land in question is not notified under Special Notification(s) issued under Section 4 & 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900. The judgment passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding Provisions of PLPA is not applicable to the land in question.
10. The land in question neither falls under reserved forest nor protected forest. Hence, provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 are not applicable on the land in question.
11. The applicant has sought declaration of land in question as deemed forest referring the order dated 08.03.2019 passed by this Hon'ble Tribunal passed in OA No.407/2017 (Lt. Col (Retd.) Sarvadaman Singh Oberaoi) passed in respect of land under consideration in said OA. It is submitted that said order was challenged by the M/s Ajay Enterprises and State of Haryana in their respective Civil Appeals and those are pending before Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, vide interim order dated 12.07.2019 directed that there shall be no c an c e l l a t i o n o f an y p e r m i s s i o n s g r an te d , in t h e m e an w h i l e .
12. That land in question is Gair Mumkin Pahar and is closed under the general section 4 of Punjab Land Preservation 2 Act wherein tree felling without permission from Divisional Forest Officer is prohibited.
13. The felling of trees caused at the land in question without obtaining permission for the same. Therefore, FIR No.24 dated 10.01.2020 was lodged with Police Station Suraj Kund. Further, Forest Offence Report (FOR) No.0452/100 dated 13.01.2020 has been registered and filed before Special Environment Court, Faridabad. It is submitted that as per report of Range Forest Officer, Faridabad total number of trees found cut on the spot are as follow:
a. 448- Undersize Miscellaneous Species b. 01- Safeda c. 43- Miscellaneous Specious Developmental Activities at the site:
14. The license bearing no. 50 of 2022 dated 22.04.2022 was granted by the Town & Country Planning Department on land bearing khasra no. 70// 8/2 (3-12), 9/1 (1-13), 12/2 (1-13), 13 (8-0), 14 (8 0), 17/2 (7-10), 18 (8-0), 19/1 (1-13), measuring 5.00625 acres in Village Sarai Khawaja to M/s SVC & Lahari. The entire area under ownership of the Respondent No.10 including the licensed land has been bounded by approx 6 ft. high boundary wall and partly with sheet fencing. The license granted land has been demarcated with burji and toe wall as per the approved area and Layout Plan. The sewer network has been laid partly in the license granted land (approx 418 Rmt. Stretch). The road network has been demarcated, however, no earth filling and WBM (Water Bound Macadam) has been done. No construction has been raised on any of the license granted demarcated site. No development activity has been observed in the area beyond the license granted land except a site office measuring approx 165.85 Sqm. has been raised.
15. It will be relevant to reproduce the para No.7 of the report dated 13.09.2020:
"7................... V i d e M e m o N o . L F A - II/2022/932-35 dated 24.08.2022, instructions have been issued to the concerned official/persons to ensure that no development work shall be taken up at the impugned site, no standing trees shall be cut and no third party rights be created in the project on the basis of licence in question. In addition to above instructions, the Commissioner of Police has also been requested to direct the Chowki Incharge to make regular inspections at the site in question."
The report is submitted accordingly."
3
4. The applicant submits that in view of admitted violations, accountability for past violations be fixed, apart from remedial action taken or which may be taken in future.
5. The Project Proponent, M/s SVC & Lahri has filed response on 15.11.2022, contesting the report. PP has inter alia stated that the issue has been earlier dealt with in two cases and thus this petition should not be entertained.
6. We find that the issue of area being deemed forest now stands concluded by the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 21.07.2022 in Civil Appeal No. 10294/2013, Narendra Singh & Ors. vs. Divesh Bhutani & Ors. Thus the view earlier taken by this Tribunal vide order dated 05.03.2019 in O.A. No. 407/2017, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi Vs. State of Haryana & Ors. is in line with the said judgment.
7. With regard to earlier orders of the Tribunal in other cases, we note that vide order dated 14.09.2022 in O.A. No. 69/2022, Parul Bawa vs. State of Haryana, the matter was disposed of by this Tribunal with the observations that no further intervention of the Tribunal was necessary. However, the Tribunal noted that there were violations which were dealt with by the Authorities. However, adequacy of action was not considered. According to PP, constructive res judicata applies. We are unable to accept this plea as damage is to society by illegal use of forest land by PP and not to one individual who failed to claim full relief. There is no bar to legal action as may be required to remedy the wrong. Another order of this Tribunal is dated 15.02.2022 in O.A. No. 46/2022, Greenfield Residents Welfare Society vs. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change & Ors. Therein, the Tribunal directed DFO, Faridabad to take 4 remedial action as per law but adequacy and nature of action was not specified. In our view the same can be now done in view of clear violations, particularly in light of judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Narendra Singh (Supra).
8. Accordingly, while accepting the report to the effect that there are violations in cutting of trees and other activities, the status of deemed forest needs to be duly restored. Compensation needs to be recovered for illegal cutting of trees. It is undisputed that about 500 trees have been cut. We fix compensation for such violation at Rs. 10 crores, taking the value of each tree at Rs. 2 lakhs. Apart from the said compensation and liability to restore the forest land, the PP will be required to do afforestation to the extent of 10 times in consultation with the DFO, Faridabad within three months from today.
The application is disposed of.
A copy of this order be forwarded to DFO, Faridabad by e-mail for compliance.
Adarsh Kumar Goel, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Prof. A. Senthil Vel, EM November 16, 2022 Original Application No.234/2022 SN 5