Breather for state on rally
The state on Monday was granted two more weeks to file an affidavit in the high court, stating whether a court order was violated during a CPM rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds on January 13 (A Tele
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Court notices to oil companies over LPG shortage in NCR
The Delhi High Court issued notices to the Union Petroleum Ministry and two public sector oil companies, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum, on Monday on a petition by a voluntary organisation praying fo
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Protest against burning of garbage at Deonar today
VARIOUS NGOs like S.A.R.F.
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"Majority of mines operating illegally in M.P.'
The Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board has informed the High Court at Jabalpur that of the total 4192 mines in the State 2697 mines were operating illegally without obtaining necessary environment
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Goa flouts CRZ notifications
latest data on constructions in the Coastal Regulatory Zone (crz)- iii in Goa show that the number of structures in the coastal villages of Goa has almost doubled in the past 15 years. During
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Landless people encroach upon private estate in Kerala
uncertainty continues in Chengara village in south Kerala's Pathanamthitta district where about 10,000 landless people forcibly settled in a rubber plantation in August 2007. The settlers, mostly
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dumping the city's garbage
With the High Court directing the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) to stop dumping the city's garbage at its present disposal site at Tonca, there is now nowhere for the city's rubbish to
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High Court issues notice to M.P. Govt.
Public Interest Litigation by NBA on alleged corruption in rehabilitation The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notices to the State Government, Chief Secretary, Chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority and others in response to a public interest litigation petition by Narmada Bachao Andolan against alleged corruption in the rehabilitation process of Sardar Sarovar Project affected families in Madhya Pradesh. NBA leader Medha Patkar herself pleaded the case. The Bench consisting of Chief Justice A. K. Patnaik and Justice Prakash Shrivastava heard the plea by Ms. Patkar and issued notices to the respondents, including the State Government, Chief Secretary, Chairman NVDA, Chairman, Narmada Control Authority (NCA) (who is also Secretary to the Union Ministry of Water Resources), State Secretary, Revenue Department, Director-General of Police, Inspector-General Stamps and Registration, District Collectors of five districts --Badwani, Dhar, Jhabua, Khargone and Dewas. They have been asked to file their replies within a month. The petition filed through senior advocate N. S. Kale on October 16, 2007, was heard on March 3. The petition alleges that there was a nexus between the NVDA officials and contractors when it came to setting up the rehabilitation sites and this has resulted in preparation of "shoddy and uninhabitable' rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) sites. It goes on to point out that thousands of eligible project affected families (PAFs) have been kept out of the ambit of rehabilitation and resettlement while those not eligible have been declared as PAFs. It is the contention of NBA that the nexus between officials, middlemen and advocates has led to huge corruption and swindling of public money meant for rehabilitation. The petition says the Madhya Pradesh government policy has allowed the land and house-based rehabilitation directives of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award (NWDTA) to be twisted and this has led to corruption. The State rehabilitation policy induced fake registries, where PAFs who were given cash for buying lands actually ended up giving commission to officials and middlemen, it is alleged. By signing fake registries, they facilitated a process where crores of rupees were amassed by officials and agents as commission, depriving PAFs of basic resource security and a better living condition after resettlement. NBA has said in a statement signed jointly by NBA activists Ashish Mandloi, Clifton Rozario and Kamla Yadav that FIRs were filed against PAFs and about 35 of them were arrested. Later all of them except one were released on bail and no action was taken against the NVDA officials though notices were issued to 30 of them. Out of a total of 2,600 land registries claimed by NVDA as part of SRP, 758 are already officially accepted by the government as fake registries, after preliminary enquiry by special departmental officers, NBA has pointed out demanding a CBI probe into this matter.
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Wait for sewage treatment plant may get longer for Mohali residents
Sas Nagar: The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) recently tested its sewage treatment plant. But there is neither an approach road to the plant, nor any arrangement to transport the sewage water to the main treatment plant. According to sources in GMADA, the work for the approach road has not started yet because of a legal tussle between Authority and farmers, who own the land over which the road will be constructed. The pipes, which will bring sewage water to the treatment plant, could not be laid as a railway crossing falls in the way and the pipes would have to be laid beneath the rail tracks, for which the GMADA has not yet received the permission. However, according to a GMADA official, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued directions to Railway authorities to fix the pipes beneath the track soon. While the treatment plant is yet to start functioning, sewage water, stink and filth have become breeding grounds of mosquitoes, posing serious health problems for Mohali residents. Jaspal Singh, a resident of Phase-IX, said that due to the foul smell emanating from the nullah passing through the phase, residents have been suffering for the past many years. Singh said the nullah was a seasonal drain but with the passage of time, the garbage and sewage water from Chandigarh and Mohali started flowing into it and now it has become impossible to livge near it. "I want to sell my house but there are no buyers and in case some people turn up, they offer very cheap price as compared to houses in other sectors or phases in Mohali,' he said. Singh said that there were hundreds of other residents in the area, whose health has been ruined due to the poor health condition around the nullah. "The authorities in the past have submitted many affidavits in the High Court promising to start the sewage treatment plant on a stipulated date, but before the date arrives, they seek further extension,' he added. When contacted on the issue, GMADA Chief Administrator Vijay Pratap Singh said the GMADA is already working on both the issues. "Chandigarh MC and GMADA have taken up a joint survey to plug the points from where the sewage is being thrown into the drain. Gradually, we will also be able to solve the problem of the stink emanating from the nullah' he added
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Wetlands curbs tightened
The state government has imposed curbs on "sale, purchase and change of character' of plots within the East Calcutta Wetlands, off EM Bypass, to prevent unauthorised construction and other activities that are harmful for its ecology. The order specifying the curbs was issued on February 29 by M.L.Meena, the principal secretary in the state environment department and member-secretary of East Calcutta Wetlands Authority. It came into force immediately. The wetlands, spread across 12,500 hectares, have been declared a "no-development' zone by Calcutta High Court. But there are often complaints of violation of the ruling. "A large number of unauthorised structures are coming up in the wetlands, violating environment norms and creating ecological imbalance. There are also reports of other unlawful commercial activities in the zone,' said Meena, explaining the rationale for issuing the order. The order bars "transfer (of) land to any person or persons in any manner through deed of sale or providing lease or tenancy right' without "prior clearance of East Calcutta Wetlands Authority'. The authority was set up under the chairmanship of the chief secretary in 2006 to preserve the character of the wetlands. The land and land reforms department has been asked "not to issue any certificate for the change of the character of land', while those dealing with registration have been been directed "not to allow registration of any land, house or pond' without the authority's consent. Similarly, the municipal or panchayat bodies have been debarred from sanctioning plans of buildings to be used for commercial purposes, keeping the authority in the dark. "If anyone wants to transfer plots within the East Calcutta Wetlands, he/she has to approach the member-secretary of the authority, who will decide on the applications within two months,' said Biswajit Mukherjee, a senior law officer in the state environment department. Environmentalists, however, are sceptical about implementation of the order. "The idea is good but will it work?' wondered Dhrubojyoti Ghosh, who was the first to document the ecological role of the wetlands. "There are numerous instances of landfill in the Ramsar zone but the violators have all gone scot-free, despite the high court ruling. Any day, you can find middlemen involved in land transfer in the wetlands,' he pointed out. "A number of big housing estates and a college have come up within the wetlands. And there are quite a few smaller violations. But the government has done nothing to honour the judicial verdict,' said another green activist.
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Supreme Court judgment on mining leases in Ponda Taluka, Goa
Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa in Writ Petition no.41/93 filed by the respondents. The writ petition no.41/93 was filed seeking quashing of the orders dated 3rd January, 1991 passed by the Directorate of Mines and Labour and dated 22nd March, 1999 passed by the Secretary, Mines, Government of Goa.
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PIL filed to protect Sholinganallur waterbodies
The Sholinganallur Phase I and Phase II TNHB Affected Residents Welfare Association has filed a public interest litigation in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the respondents, who included the Tamil Nadu Housing Board to protect the waterbodies in various survey numbers at Sholinganallur. The association, represented by its secretary, K.Appadurai, submitted that the TNHB while promoting a satellite township at Sholinganallur had encroached upon several waterbodies by land filling and developing housing plots on them also. This resulted in deprivation of water sources due to disappearance of waterbodies in the locality. Such unplanned development of plots would lead to reduced ground water table and salination of the existing good quality of ground water. Unless the existing water bodies were protected, the locality would face an environmental disaster. The petitioner sought an ad-interim injunction restraining the board from acquiring the waterbodies in survey numbers 290, 292, 393 and 315. In its order, the First Bench comprising the Chief Justice A. P. Shah and Justice F. M. Ibrahim Kalifulla directed the TNHB to maintain status quo in respect of the four survey numbers. The matter was adjourned to March 10.
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TNHB restrained from acquiring waterbodies
The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) to maintain statusquo in respect of the waterbodies in survey Nos. 290, 292, 315 and 393 in Sholinganallur in Kancheepuram district. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla granted the injunction on Tuesday while passing interim orders on a public interest writ petition from the Sholinganallur Phase I and Phase II TNHB Affected Residents Welfare Association, by its secretary K Appadurai, for a direction to the authorities con cerned to protect the water-bodies.
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Don't fell trees in forest areas, says High Court
The Madras High Court has directed the authorities concerned not to fell trees or alienate any land, particularly from sanctuaries, national parks, bio-spheres (reserved area) by issuing pattas or by any other means of alienation. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla gave the direction on Thursday while admitting and passing interim orders on a public interest writ petition seeking to declare the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, more particularly, chapter II, III and IV of the Act, as illegal, unconstitutional and null and void. The interim prayer was to restrain the authorities from giving effect to the provisions of the Act, which was notified on January 2, 2008. In his public interest writ petition, V Sambasivam, who retired as the Deputy Conservator of Forests, contended that the provisions in chapter II enabled the Central Government to provide for diversion of forest land for certain facilities provided by the Government, which involved felling of trees not exceeding 75 per hectare. This provision was repugnant to those in the Indian Forest Act, Forest Conservation Act and Wildlife (Protection) Act, the petitioner said.
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Residents move HC against DMRC
The Azadpur Gaon Welfare Association has urged the Delhi High Court to halt the project of building a mall-cum-Metro station by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) at Ring Road Azadpur as it is being built at the reserved green area. Puneet Mittal, counsel for the petitioner Rai Singh Rana said according to the master plan, the area where the DMRC is building its station is earmarked for the green belt and the private builders and public authorities have connived to violate all norms to obtain prior sanction before the construction.
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Court reserves order on Games Village site
The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on the ongoing construction of the Commonwealth Games Village that has been challenged on the grounds that it could harm the ecological system of the Yamuna riverbed. A division bench headed by Justices A.K. Sikri and Rekha Sharma reserved the order after hearing the arguments from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and environmentalists. "We are giving one week's time to all parties in the case to file their affidavits if they want to say anything else in the case,' said the bench.
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HC reserves order on Games site
The Delhi High Court today reserved its orders on a bunch of petitions filed by environmentalists challenging the construction of the 2010 Commonwealth Games village site on the banks of river Yamuna. The court reserved its order after hearing the petitioners' ecological concerns over the construction of the Games village for the international sports event and a Metro corridor on the river banks.
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Case filed in High Court to seek review of Human Organ Transplant Act
Following unearthing of the kidney transplant racket in neighbouring Gurgaon, a Delhi-based social activist has filed a public interest litigation in the Delhi High Court seeking directions for, among other things, a review of the Human Organ Transplant Act, 1994, to enlarge the scope of prospective kidney donors to check illegal transplants and make the treatment accessible to poor patients as well.
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Policy decision on beach cleanliness given more time
The Bombay High Court has granted additional time to government authorities to ensure implementation of the policy decision taken by government for appropriate cleanliness in the city and more particularly on the beaches of Goa. The collectors of both the districts and the director tourism as also the director of municipal administration have been asked to file detailed affidavits by March 5, 2008.
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Ski village in present form not acceptable: Dhumal
Shimla, February 11 : It seems the $300 million Himalayan Ski Village project in Himachal Pradesh is heading for some real trouble. A day after his visit to Manali, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the project lacks transparency. "We will take into account all aspects, including its clearance from the Union Ministry of Defence, Environment and Forests before giving the go- ahead to the project.'