Bombay HC Strikes Down MoEF Notification That Transferred All Cases From Goa At NGT Western Zone To New Delhi

In a highly significant judgment, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has struck down a notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests dated August 10, 2017, wherein all matters relating to the State of Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, before the National Green Tribunal, Western Zone in Pune, were transferred to the principal bench in New Delhi.In a 47-page judgment passed by the bench of Justice GS Patel and Justice Nutan Sardessai, it was noted that the state government, for its own convenience, had pushed for the transfer of all matters from Goa to the principal bench in Delhi.The court first took suo-motu cognizance of the matter after reading news reports about the MoEF notification on August 21. Senior advocate SD Lotlikar was appointed as amicus curiae. Thereafter, other PILs were filed challenging the same notification.BackgroundThe sheer number of cases coming from Goa at NGT, Pune, was quite significant. So much so, that Thursdays and Fridays were kept only for cases from Goa.In its affidavit before the high court, the MoEF stated that at first a proposal for setting up a circuit bench in Goa was received. Thereafter, the MoEF sought the opinion of the chairperson of the NGT, but there was no response.The MoEF then received another proposal from the state government of Goa to transfer all matters, including pending matters, to the principal bench in New Delhi. It acted on this and it did so without any form of public consultation with other ‘stakeholders’, including litigants.In the affidavit filed by the MoEF, it is stated that the present Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, requested to bring the state of Goa under the jurisdiction of principal bench of NGT in New Delhi, the reason being that having to travel to Pune is logistically inconvenient and a serious financial burden for the people of the state of Goa.It was explained therein that Pune and Goa are inconveniently and insufficiently connected as there are limited flights available i.e. only 2 flights per day in the afternoon, and therefore, litigants and lawyers are required to travel a day prior to the matter and depart only the day after the matter concludes which seriously impacted time needed and increases the cost involved. It was further explained that due to the poor flight connectivity between Pune and Goa, many litigants, parties and lawyers would travel by road to Pune. This is a dangerous mode of travel as it involves traversing across the Western Ghat region, which is especially precarious during the monsoon season for essentially six months of the year, the affidavit said.Submissions and Final JudgmentSD Lotlikar submitted that it is apparent from the affidavit (MoEF) that the state government has not argued against a circuit bench in Goa but only said that places suggested by the petitioners were not feasible.He then submitted that the convenience of the state government is entirely insignificant.“Access to justice is a dimension of Article 21. Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the fundamental right to life, has many aspects and facets. The right to a wholesome environment is one of them, and by making this a fundamental right and a part of the right to life, our jurisprudence is perhaps a step further than that of most other nations whose legal systems share the basis of ours. Apart from the question of the right to a clean environment, it is well established that “access to justice”, whatever be the cause, is also a facet of Article 21. Put together, and read with Sections 14 and 15 of the NGT Act, this means that every person must have affordable access to a reasonably conveniently situated tribunal charged with dispensing environmental justice,” Lotlikar said.Suitable access, in his submission, means that the access must be affordable and it must be within reasonable reaching distance.Lotlikar then relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in Madras Bar Association vs Union of India, and specifically pointed to the following observation regarding the National Tax Tribunal:“One cannot lose sight of the fact that the Central Government will be a stakeholder in each and every appeal/case which would be filed before NTT. It cannot, therefore, be appropriate to allow the Central Government to play any role, with reference to the places where the Benches would be set up, the areas over which the Benches would exercise jurisdiction, the composition and the constitution of the Benches, as also, the transfer of the Members from one Bench to another.”It is wholly arbitrary and unfair to lump all litigants into one class without making a reasonable distinction or allowance for various types and classes of litigants. Not every litigant takes a flight, Lotlikar said.Appearing for the lead petitioner, Goa Foundation, Norma Alvares submitted that this decision to transfer the jurisdiction was almost instantaneous. The government made its request on June 9, 2017, and the impugned notification followed...

Bombay HC Strikes Down MoEF Notification That Transferred All Cases From Goa At NGT Western Zone To New Delhi

nitish kashyap

Tags