National Green Tribunal
Ridhima Pandey vs State Of Uttarakhand on 18 July, 2022
Item No.04 (Court No. 2)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPALBENCH
(By Video Conferencing)
Original Application No.429/2022
Ridhima Pandey ...Applicant
Versus
State of Uttarakhand ...Respondent
Date of hearing: 18.07.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER
Application is registered based on a Letter Petition received by E-mail.
ORDER
1. Ms. Ridhima Pandey, aged about 14 Years, claiming herself to be a global climate activist working for protection of environment and forests since 2017 when she was 9 years old, has sent the present letter petition, which has been treated and registered as Original Application, complaining about illegal mining inside the reserved forest of Haldwani Forest Division of Uttarakhand.
2. The applicant has submitted that Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the Haldwani Forest Division. The area surrounding Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary has been notified as an Eco-sensitive Zone. The up- stream part of Nandhaur River falls under this Eco-sensitive zone. Uttarakhand Government Industrial Development Department (Mining) - Section 1 vide their letter dated 07.01.2022 and District Magistrate, Nainital, vide his order dated 25.03.2022 have authorized M/s. A.P.S Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. to collect R.B.M. lying in the Eco-sensitive zone of the Nandhaur river for a duration of 6 months, under the guise of Disaster Management Act, 2005. D.M Champawat has also started the process of permitting the O. A. No. 429/2022 Ridhima PandeyVs. State of Uttarakhand -2- collection of R.B.M. from the Upper-stream part of Sharda Barrage, Tanakpur, vide order dated 05.04.2022 under the guise of Disaster Management Act, 2005. Haldwani Forest Division and concerned areas of both the rivers Nandhaur and Sharda are rich bio-diversity area and important Schedule-I wildlife habitat and Eco sensitive zone. If it is necessary to remove R.B.M., then permission should be granted after taking expert opinion and removed R.B.M. should be deposited on both the sides of river bank. If the mining activities are allowed in the above forest area then there would be a big loss of environment and wild life habitat because the road construction for mining vehicles, JCB, poclain machine and the labourers to enter in the forest area would not only disturb the wildlife but also destroy their habitat.
3. We appreciate the initiative taken by the applicant for sending the letter petition to this Tribunal bringing to its notice environmental problems of the fragile area of the Himalayas for appropriate directions. Active participation with awareness of the environmental problems and sincere concern for resolution thereof is what is required on the part of all citizens who are under a fundamental duty under Article 51-A (g) of the Constitution of India to protect and improve the environment.
4. In view of the grievances made in the application, we are of the view that the factual position needs to be verified and remedial action is required to be taken on the basis thereof in case of violation of environmental norms. We accordingly constitute Joint Committee of Regional Office of MoEF & CC at Dehradun, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Government of Uttarakhand, CPCB, State PCB, SEIAA, Uttarakhand and District Magistrates, Champawat and Nainital and direct the Joint Committee to meet within four weeks, undertake site visits, look into the grievances of the applicant, verify the factual position and take requisite O. A. No. 429/2022 Ridhima PandeyVs. State of Uttarakhand -3- action by following due process of law. The State PCB will be the Nodal agency for coordination and compliance.
5. Factual and action taken report may be furnished within three months by e-mail at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
List the matter for further consideration on 15.11.2022. A copy of this order, along with a copy of the application and documents enclosed therewith, be forwarded to the Regional Office of MoEF & CC at Dehradun, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Government of Uttarakhand, CPCB, State PCB, SEIAA, Uttarakhand and District Magistrates, Champawat and Nainital by e-mail for compliance.
Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM July 18, 2022 Original ApplicationNo.429/2022 AG