National Green Tribunal
Wildlife Society Of Orissa Represented ... vs State Of Odisha Represented By Chief ... on 17 August, 2021
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
EASTERN ZONE BENCH,
KOLKATA
............
ORIGINAL APPLICATION No. 129/2016/EZ
(I.A. No. 70/2020/EZ)
IN THE MATTER OF:
Wildlife Society of Orissa (Elephant Corridors)
Represented by its Secretary,
Shantikunj, Link Road, Cuttack
Dist-Cuttack, Odisha-753012
....Applicant(s)
Versus
1. State of Odisha
Represented by Chief Secretary,
Government of Odisha, Secretariat Building,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751001
2. The Secretary,
Forest and Environment Department,
Government of Odisha, Secretariat Building,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751001
3. The Secretary,
Revenue and Disaster Management Department,
Government of Odisha, Secretariat Building,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751001
4. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and
Chief Wildlife Warden, Odisha, Prakruti Bhawan,
BDA Apartments, Nilakanthanagar, Nayapalli,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751012
5. The Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change,
Government of India, Indira Paryavaran Bhavan,
Jorbagh Road, New Delhi-110003
....Respondent(s)
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COUNSEL FOR APPLICANT:
Mr. Sankar Prasad Pani, Advocate
COUNSEL FOR RESPONDENTS:
Mr. Deepak Kumar Pani, Advocate for Respondent Nos.1 to 4
Mr. Gora Chand Roy Choudhury, Advocate for Respondent No.5
JUDGMENT
PRESENT:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR (JUDICIAL MEMBER) HON'BLE MR. SAIBAL DASGUPTA (EXPERT MEMBER) __________________________________________________________________ Reserved On:- 12th August, 2021 Pronounce On:- 17th August, 2021 __________________________________________________________________
1. Whether the Judgment is allowed to be published on the net? Yes
2. Whether the Judgment is allowed to be published in the NGT Reporter? Yes JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR (JUDICIAL MEMBER) Heard the learned Counsel for the Applicant as well as the learned Counsel for the Respondents and perused the documents on record.
2. This original application has been filed by the Applicant seeking a direction to the Respondent No.2, Secretary, Forest and Environment Department, Government of Odisha to submit proposals for declaration and notification of 14 elephant corridors to the Central Government with the further direction to the Respondent No.5, the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to take immediate action and to issue draft notification and thereafter a final notification notifying the 14 elephant corridors.
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3. It is stated in the original application that the State of Odisha has the largest population of elephants in Eastern India which stands at about 1,977 as per the last census carried out by the State Government in May, 2015.
4. It is stated that the elephant by its nature migrates from one place to another place in search of fodder and propagation of species and such migratory paths are part and parcel of the elephant ecology.
5. It is stated that recognizing the peculiar character of the elephants a Task Force was set up by the Government of India to determine the status and recommend measures for the long term survival and protection of elephants. The Task Force then prepared a report titled "Gajah" which was released in August, 2010 with several recommendations, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure-1 at Page No. 11 to 17 to the original application.
6. It is stated that elephant corridors being a part of the elephant ecology needs to be prescribed and therefore, notified as ecological sensitive zones under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
7. It is stated that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden, Odisha, Respondent No.4 presented details of elephant corridors in the State of Odisha identifying the 14 corridors with a total area of 870.61 sq. kms having a length of 420.8 kms and a width of 0.08 km to 4.6 kms. 3
8. The minutes of the meeting held on 19.01.2010 have been filed as Annexure-2 at Page No. 19 of the paper book. Thereafter, a "Plan for Management of Elephant Corridors across forest habitats in Orissa" was submitted to the State Government on 25.08.2011.
9. It is stated that the Respondent No.4, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Odisha vide his letter No. 7274 dated 11.10.2012 submitted a proposal to the Respondent No.2, Forest and Environment Department, Government of Odisha to notify 14 traditional elephant corridors in Odisha under the provisions of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It is alleged that thereafter, till date no action has been taken for notifying the 14 elephant corridors in the State of Odisha under the said act.
10. An affidavit dated 03.01.2017 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent Nos.1, 2 & 4 and it is stated therein that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) which was given the mandate to identify the major and minor elephant corridors in the State of Odisha along with the work of assessing the habitat viability etc. and necessary action for notifying the elephant corridors which could be taken up only after receipt of the report of the Foundation.
11. It is stated that the objective of the Respondent No.4 was to identify the major and minor elephant corridors with special reference to Lakhary valley of Mahendragiri Region, Odisha. 4
12. A general letter dated 11.08.2006 was also written by the Inspector General of Forest and Director (PE), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to the Chief Wildlife Wardens (PE) States and UTs, stating therein that the elephant corridors as prepared in Uttaranchal be provided legal protection under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and to take steps for notification and protection of the identified elephant corridors in the various States.
13. A counter-affidavit dated 29.05.2017 has been filed by the Applicant to the compliance report filed by Respondent Nos.1, 2 & 4 wherein it is stated that elephants were straying from designated corridors in Dhenkanal, Athagarh, Athamalik & Angul forest divisions as admitted in the compliance report of the State Respondents but elephant corridors have not yet been notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. A reference has also been made to the letter of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) & Chief Wildlife Warden, Odisha dated 11.10.2012 addressed to the Principal Secretary to Government, Forest and Environment Department, Odisha with a request that all the 14 elephant corridors be notified under the provisions of Section 3(v) of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
14. An affidavit dated 16.09.2020 has been filed by the Applicant with the prayer that the Final Study Report prepared by Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) mentions that 9 elephant corridors out of 14 identified corridors are not viable and the same should not be accepted.
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15. An Action Plan dated 10.08.2021 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent Nos. 2 and 4 with reference to the time-line for implementation of the recommendations of the report submitted by the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF). This Action Plan is with regard to 14 elephant corridors already identified which reads as under:
16. Besides the elephant corridors identified by the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF), certain other elephant corridors were also identified by the Forest Department as priority corridors which are as under:
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a. Hatibari Corridor b. Nuagaon-Baruni Corridor c. Simpilipal (Nato RF)-Satkosia-Hadgarh-WLS-Kuldiha WLS d. Karo (Keonjhar Odisha)- Karampada (Saranda, Jharkhand)
17. The relevant extract of the Action Plan submitted by the State Respondents, Government of Odisha is reproduced herein below:
"In January, 2018, Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) submitted its study report to Government of Odisha. This report is titled as "Elephant Carrying Capacity of Odisha's Forests". In this report chapter 5 is devoted to "Elephant Corridors in Odisha". Under table 5.1 of this chapter authors have given the list of corridors identified by Forest Depeartment indicating functional existence and ecological feasibility as assessed by ANCF, and it is reproduced below:-7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
18. In our view, since the Action Plan has been submitted and 14 elephant corridors have been identified by the State Respondents, Government of Odisha, we, therefore, dispose of this original application with the direction to the Respondent No.1 to notify the elephant corridors in terms of the elephant corridors as identified 16 by the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) and the Action Plan, within a period of two months from today in accordance with law.
19. There shall be no order as to costs.
I.A. No. 70/2020/EZ
1. This application has been taken up. The prayer in the I.A. filed by the Applicant is for a direction to the Respondent to show cause for violation of the order of the Tribunal dated 20.10.2016.
2. We have gone through the I.A. and since, the 14 elephant corridors have already been identified by the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) and the original application has been disposed of with a direction to the Respondent No.1, State of Odisha to notify the same, in our opinion, there is no violation of the order of the Tribunal dated 20.10.2016.
3. I.A. No. 70/2020/EZ is accordingly dismissed.
4. There shall no order as to costs.
........................................ B. AMIT STHALEKAR, JM ........................................ SAIBAL DASGUPTA, EM Kolkata August 17, 2021 Original Application No.129/2016/EZ (I.A. No. 70/2020/EZ) 17