1 KM ESZ Mandate For Forests | Supreme Court Says Ground Realities Have To Be Considered

Commenting about the practical difficulties in having a uniform mandate of 1 kilometer Eco Sensitive Zone for all protected forests across the country, the Supreme Court on Wednesday orally remarked that the ground realities have also to be taken into account.

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath was hearing a batch of applications filed in the TN Godavarman Thirumalpad case, some of which sought exemption from the June 3 direction of the Supreme Court which mandated 1 KM ESZ for all protected forests.

The bench observed that there are situations where there are notified forests within city areas, where urban activities might have taken place for past several years.

"The orders cannot be passed in air. While passing orders, some ground realities have also to be taken into consideration", Justice Gavai said. The judge said that in the route between Jaipur city and the airport, there is an area notified as forest. "If in such places, the condition(for ESZ) is accepted, then the entire road will have to be demolished or converted into forests. Then there will be no connectivity for the city", Justice Gavai commented.

"We are all for the protection of the environment, but at the same time we cannot halt the entire development", Justice Gavai said.

The bench passed an order exempting Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary located near the suburbs of Mumbai from the ambit of the June 3 order, allowing an application filed by CREDAI-MCHI. The order was passed taking into account an earlier order passed exempting Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary in Mumbai.  Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the CREDAI, told the bench that the June 3 order was passed by deciding some applications filed 20 years ago and that the bench had ignored several subsequent notifications issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that there are certain forests which can be exempted from the mandate in view of the notifications issued by the Ministry and said that he will have a discussion with amicus curiae K Parameshwar regarding this. "We might have some solution, I will sit with Mr.Parameshwar", the SG said.

The Solicitor General also pointed out that an application has been filed by the Indian railways seeking modification of the directions. "The railway projects are linear projects which would require us to take permission from the states and the projects may pass through various states."

Justice Gavai shared that as a High Court judge, while adjudicating a matter, he had suggested the construction of overpasses and underpasses for the traffic so that the movement of wildlife would not be hindered. The bench suggested that such a thing could be done in the present case.

The Solicitor General submitted that, "We are working on it but still repeated permissions would have to be taken because the projects cover various areas, the project would be passing through six or seven states which would require us to take permissions from each State Forest Departments."

The Bench proposed that, "instead of going to each State Forest Department, one permission could be taken from the Ministry of Environment and Forest." The Solicitor General informed the court that he will have to take instructions on it.