In the first-ever judicial intervention in the matters relating to the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP), the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has served notices on the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and two other Government agencies, on a petition challenging the environmental clearance granted to the project. Apart from the MoEF, two other agencies that have been served notices by the NGT are Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). A green court set up by the Centre in October last year under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010, the NGT has sought responses from the three agencies by November first week, on a petition filed by Janahit Seva Samiti (JSS) Madban. The JSS, which is a local villagers’ group, is opposing the environmental clearance granted to the 9900 MW JNPP in November last year. Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta, chairperson of NGT, and Vijay Sharma, an expert member of the Tribunal, served the notices on the three Government agencies, after hearing the petitioners -JSS President Pravin Gavankar and Dr Milind Desai, on September 27. In its petition filed before the green court, the JSS has challenged the anomalies in the environmental clearance given to the JNPP by the MoEF. The State-run NPCIL is setting up 6 nuclear power units of 1650 MW capacity each at Madban in Ratnagiri district of coastal Konkan region in collaboration with the French nuclear power giant AREVA. Environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta, representing the JSS before the tribunal, said “In the environmental clearance given to the JNPP, there are a lot of deviations from the legally binding guidelines set by the MoEF. The Jaitapur EIA either simply ignores or glosses over many of these. As such a legal challenge becomes an imperative for the environmental clearance.” According to the petitioners, the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had conducted the environment impact assessment in 2008-2009. The then environment minister Jairam Ramesh went ahead and granted environmental clearance to the project, despite the strong objections raised by the project-affected villagers who had clamoured for the Government conducting radiation studies.