1Km ESZ Rule Won't Apply To Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary Near Mumbai : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that its order mandating 1 kilometer Eco-Sensitive Zone around protected forests will not apply to Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary located near the suburbs of Mumbai.

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath passed the order taking note of an earlier order passed on September 23 which exempted Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary from the 1-KM ESZ rule.

On June 3, 2022, a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court had directed that each protected forest should have an Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of 1 kilometre. However in the said order, the bench had also stated that a uniform ESZ rule may not be feasible in all cases and there could be specific instances of sanctuaries situated near metro regions where urban activities have come up over the years. The bench had cited examples like Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Guindy National Park in Mumbai and Chennai respectively.

Seeking exemption for Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi relied on the said observations in the June 3, 2022 order as well as the September 23, 2022 order which exempted Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. He requested that similar order to be passed in the case of Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary as well.

In the cases of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Thane Flamingo Creek, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had issued notifications on 15.12.2016 and 14.10.2021 respectively, setting out ESZ. In the September 23 order, the bench noted that these notifications were not brought to the notice of the Court before the passing of the June 3 order. In case of Tungareshwar, the final notification was issued by the Ministry on 11.09.2019.

While allowing the present application in respect of Tungareshwar, the bench stated that the September 23 order had held that wherever specific notifications in respect of particular national parks/sanctuaries have been issued after following prescribed procedure of law, they will prevail.

Case Title : In Re : TN Godavarman Thirumalpad versus Union of India

Counsels for CREDAI-MCHI: Sr. Advocate Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Ms. Shivani Khanwilkar (Senior Associate- DSK Legal), Ms. Saloni Shah (Senior Associate-DSK Legal), Mr. Akhil Anand (Partner-DSK Legal) and Mr. Samit Shukla (Partner- DSK Legal).