Uttarakhand High Court
WPMS/787/2020 on 26 June, 2020
Bench: Ramesh Ranganathan, Ramesh Chandra Khulbe
WPMS No. 787 of 2020 Hon'ble Ramesh Ranganathan, C.J.
Hon'ble Ramesh Chandra Khulbe, J.
Mr. Ayush Negi, learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr. B.S. Parihar, learned Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand-respondents 1 to 6.
Mr. V.K. Kapruwan, learned Standing Counsel for the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation-seventh respondent.
Mr. Ayush Negi, learned counsel for the petitioner, would submit that the recommendations of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, as referred to in the proceedings dated 27.02.2018, is required to be later approved by the Standing Committee of the Board itself, as is evident from paragraph no. 10 of the very same proceedings in terms of which environmental clearance was accorded to the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, for mining of mineral sand, bajri and boulder in the river bed of Nandhaur and Kailash Rivers, subject to compliance of the terms and conditions, and the environmental safeguards mentioned in the said paragraph; and which, in terms of Clause 10A(ii), makes the environmental clearance subject to obtaining requisite NBWL clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, as applicable for the mining project.
The submission of Mr. Ayush Negi, learned counsel for the petitioner, is that the Standing Committee 2 of NBWL had merely recommended clearance in its meeting held on 05.05.2017, and it is evident from the proceedings issued by the Ministry of Environment, thereafter, on 27.02.2018 that clearance has not been issued by the Standing Committee of the NBWL thereafter.
While the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation asserts that no further clearance is required to be obtained from the National Board for Wildlife, the submission, urged on behalf of the petitioner, is to the contrary.
This issue can only be resolved if the National Board for Wildlife is heard in this regard.
When we pointed out that the petitioner has not arrayed the National Board for Wildlife as a respondent in this Writ Petition, Mr. Ayush Negi, learned counsel for the petitioner, requests a week's time to move an application to implead the National Board for Wildlife as a respondent in the Writ Petition.
Post on 06.07.2020.
(Ramesh Chandra Khulbe, J.) (Ramesh Ranganathan, C.J.) 26.06.2020 26.06.2020 Rahul