National Green Tribunal
Indus Towers Ltd vs Goa State Pollution Control on 8 November, 2020
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL, WESTERN ZONE
BENCH, PUNE
Appeal No.93/2017 (WZ)
IN
(M.A. No.292/2017)
AND
Appeal No.94/2017 (WZ)
IN
(M.A. No.293/2017)
AND
Appeal No.95/2017 (WZ)
IN
(M.A. No.294/2017)
AND
Appeal No.96/2017 (WZ)
IN
(M.A. No.295/2017)
In the matter of :-
Indus Towers Ltd. Vrs. Goa State Pollution Control Board & Ors.
AND
Indus Towers Ltd. Vrs. GSPCB & Ors.
AND
Indus Towers Ltd. Vrs. GSPCB & Ors.
AND
Indus Towers Ltd. Vrs. Goa State Pollution Control Board & Ors.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE U.D. SALVI, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. NAGIN NANDA, EXPERT MEMBER,
Present: Applicant : Mr. Nikhil Vaze, Adv. a/w.
Ms. Manasi Joshi, Adv.
Respondents : None appeared.
Date and Orders of the Tribunal Remarks Item No.2,3,4 and 5 Heard. Perused record.
08th November, 2017 Orders dated 22nd August 2017 rejecting the plea to condone Order No.1 the delay passed by the Administrative Tribunal, Goa, in Misc Appeal No. 23/2017/CONDONE/POLL as per copy annexed at Annexure 'B' to the Appeals have been challenged in the present Appeals Nos.
93/2017 to 96/2017. The Appeals were preferred before the Item No.2,3,4 Administrative Tribunal Goa, Panaji Goa against the orders dated 5 th and 5 08th November, July 2016 on 3rd April 2017; much after the delay of 8 months and 11 2017 Order No.1 days on the grounds revealed from the following facts as pleaded by the Appellants.
The Applicant applied for certified copy of order on 5-7- 2016 and the copy was delivered on 26-7-2016. The Applicant contends that the appeal was drafted and sent to the local authorised signatory for Goa. However, as the said person was on leave, there was no response. In the meantime, the authorised signatory changed and it was decided that Mr. Ramesh Salvekar would be authorized to sign the legal documents such as petitions and appeals as well. In this confusion the appeal was not filed. This was realized by Mr. Sachin Rege, the earlier authorised signatory and he immediately sent the draft to Mr; Ramesh Salvekar, who approved it.
The Applicant then decided to file the appeal against the impugned order through the Company's legal heal Mr. Ramesh Salvekar, who is based in Pune and monitors the entire area of Maharashtra and Goa by personally visiting sites within his jurisdiction. Accordingly, the said appeal was mailed to Mr. Ramesh Salvekar. On finalization of the draft by the legal team based in Pune, the same was verified and sworn by Mr. Ramesh Salvekar before the Notory in Pune, and sent to the Applicant's office in Goa and immediately the appeal was filed. As a result there is a delay of 8 months and 11 days i.e. from 26-7-2016 till the date of filing the appeal with application for condonation of delay. The Applicant contends that the delay in filing the appeal is due to the aforesaid reason, which was not deliberate and hence, in the interest of justice, the delay be condoned".
If the entire chain of circumstances is to be believed, it is quite obvious that the persons concerned slept over the matter of filing the Appeals though they were in receipt of the certified copies of the order dated 26th July 2016 and suffered no unsurmountable impediment.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellant submits that the Administrative Tribunal has largely dealt with the merits of the Appeal rather than sufficiency of the cause shown by the Appellant for Item No.2,3,4 condoning the delay in preferring the Appeal. and 5 08th November, All said and done, the facts disclosed by the Appellant even 2017 Order No.1 taken as they are, do not reveal a sufficient cause for condoning the delay, particularly when the negligence on their part is writ large in the explanation offered by them.
Hence, the Appeal Nos.93/2017, 94/2017, 95/2017 and 96/2016 alongwith M.A. Nos. 292/2017, 293/2017, 294/2017 and 295/2017 are dismissed.
........................................., JM (Justice U.D. Salvi) ........................................., EM (Dr. Nagin Nanda) ajp