Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

The report of the Expert Committee had, inter alia, declared land owned by the appellant to be unfit for construction. Further, by its judgment dated 29 July 2021, the NGT dismissed an application for review7 which had been filed by the appellant. “NGT Act” “NGT” “Expert Committee Report” Original Application No 312 of 2016 “ZMP 2030” “ESZ” Review Application No 26 of 2021 PART B B Eco-sensitive Zone Notification and Zonal Master Plan 2030 2 The appellant is the owner of a certain parcel of land situated in Mount Abu in the State of Rajasthan. The appellant claims that the land was earmarked as “Residential” and as a “Tourist Facility” in the Zonal Master Plan 2025 for Mount Abu.

AND WHEREAS, copies of the Gazette containing the said notification were made available to the public on the 22nd October, 2008;

AND WHEREAS, all objections and suggestions received in response to the above mentioned draft notification have been duly considered by the Central Government;

Now, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (v) and clause (xiv) of sub - section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) and sub-rule (3) of rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, the Central Government hereby notifies Mount Abu and surrounding region enclosed within the boundary described below in the State of Rajasthan as the Mount Abu Eco-sensitive Zone (hereinafter called "the Eco-sensitive Zone").” 4 The ESZ Notification was preceded by a draft to which objections and suggestions were invited. The ESZ Notification outlines the boundaries of the ESZ in which activities are to be regulated. The Notification envisages the preparation of a new Zonal Master Plan11 for the restoration of denuded areas, conservation of existing water bodies including Nakki Lake, management of catchment areas, “ZMP” PART B watershed management, groundwater management, soil and moisture conservation, preserving the needs of the local community, conservation of heritage sites (both natural and cultural) and their surroundings, and such other aspects of the ecology and environment which may require attention. Clause 3(1)(i) of the ESZ Notification, in relation to the preparation of the ZMP, is extracted below:

12 The NGT then proceeded to deal with individual sites under consideration. The subject matter of the present appeals pertains to an entry in Table 16 of the Expert Committee Report. Table 16 is titled as follows:

“Suitability of 10 identified sites within Mount Abu ESZ as reviewed by the expert committee based on the site visit/ground verification as well as interactions with the local residents/Mount Abu Municipality officials/Town Planning Department officials/other stakeholders during 16-17 January 2020” The evaluation of the site in question, i.e., the appellant‟s land, is tabulated in Table 16 as follows:

32 The precautionary principle envisages that the State cannot refuse to act to preserve the environment simply because all the scientific data may not be available. If there is some data to suggest that environmental degradation is possible, the State must step into action to prevent it from taking place. Indeed, it was this thought that compelled this Court in T.N. Godavarman (supra) to direct the State to identify ESZs across India, so that steps can be taken to identify areas where there is a greater possibility of environmental degradation and a plan is put in place to prevent such degradation before it actually makes the harm irreversible. 33 Mount Abu was identified as an ESZ, under the ESZ Notification. The reason for doing this is because the State recognized that environmental degradation of the fragile eco-system is a real possibility in Mount Abu and the area surrounding it if action is not immediately taken. A significant amount of soil erosion, air and water pollution has already taken place due to the developmental activities. The recitals in the ESZ Notification recognize the ecological importance of Mount Abu since it PART H contains both tropical dry deciduous forests and evergreen forests; its flora and fauna comprise of several endemic and rare species; and it also contains not only natural heritage such as Nakki lake but also man-made heritage sites such as the Dilwara temples. The ESZ notification required, inter alia, the State of Rajasthan to prepare the ZMP 2030, so as to ensure that future development activity in the region could be planned while accounting for potential environmental degradation, following the precautionary principle. The ESZ notification is backed by a statutory mandate of Union legislation. The Notification is an enforceable charter for the preservation of the fragile eco-system of Mount Abu. Every authority is duty bound to comply with its terms and any action in breach must peril invalidation.