The National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, a Tribunal established by the Central Government for adjudication of disputes related to environmental concerns. The Court, in this case, determines that the decision of the NGT regarding an Environment Clearance granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Karnataka.
Brief Facts
The appellants undertook the construction of the New High Rise Residential Building in Bengaluru. In furtherance of the same, the appellants sought for Environmental Clearance (“EC”) from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (“SEIAA”). The SEIAA granted the said clearance. The respondent no. 2 being aggrieved by the construction in the ecologically fragile zone filed an appeal before the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, Delhi (“NGT”). The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (“BBMP”) also issued ‘stop work’. This was issued for the project which was in violation of Zoning Regulations.
The NGT constituted a Joint Committee. The said committee consisted of Central Pollution Control Board, SEIAA, Karnataka, State Pollution Control Board and Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Based on the Report filed by the Joint Committee, the NGT concluded that the EC could not have arrived.
Arguments of the Parties
The appellants contended that the manner in which the NGT decided was not justified. It was also contended that the decision of NGT was made without reference to the Report of Joint Committee. The Joint Committee had submitted a preliminary report and indicated to submit a separate report.
Court’s View
The Court observed that consideration as to whether the entire report was relevant to reach the decision was necessary. The Court perused the order of the NGT. Though the BBMP contended that the project was not permissible, it is important to perform spot inspection. The NGT extracted the relevant parts of the Report in its decision. In the extract, the NGT notes that the subsequent Report was yet to be filed.
However, during the pendency of the present appeal, the subsequent report came to be filed before the NGT. Hence, the Court found it appropriate to set aside the order of the NGT and remit back the said matter to the NGT for consideration based on the subsequent report filed by the Joint Committee.
Court’s Decision
The appeal was partly allowed by the Court. The order of the NGT was set-aside and remitted back to the NGT for reconsideration based on the subsequent report filed by the Joint Committee. Hence, the Court did not dwell into the merits of the case.
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