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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Supreme Court to work overtime to clear environment cases
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Supreme Court to work overtime to clear environment cases

The apex court's forest bench agrees to work on holidays to fast-track cases regarding mining, infrastructure

The forest bench will sit for three days during Dussehra holidays to hear mining cases relating to Haryana and Rajasthan. Photo: MintPremium
The forest bench will sit for three days during Dussehra holidays to hear mining cases relating to Haryana and Rajasthan. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday suggested working on weekends and holidays in order to expeditiously decide on important environmental litigation.

Laying down a schedule for these cases in the next two months, a three-judge bench of J.S. Khehar, J. Chelameswar and A.K. Sikri, also called the forest bench, asked for the support of the bar in this endeavour.

“It must be a joint effort," the bench said. “Are you willing to work on weekends?"

“If your lordships are willing, we are ready," solicitor general Ranjit Kumar replied.

Many projects in India that involve mining and building infrastructure such as roads in forested areas have been delayed in part due to contentious environmental issues.

The new Narendra Modi government has promised to hasten environmental approvals. The Supreme Court is now seen as also working towards clearing legal hurdles quickly.

The forest bench will sit for three days during the Dussehra holidays—29 and 30 September and 1 October—to hear mining cases relating to Haryana and Rajasthan.

The Haryana mining case relate to alleged violations of forest conservation laws, including indiscriminate mining in Shivalik hills and stoppage of developmental work on the Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plan 2021, and building part of the Gurgaon-Faridabad link road that passes through the Aravalli hills.

The Rajasthan mining cases have been registered against illegal quarrying of stones in the Aravalli hills.

Lawyer Harish Salve, who has in the past acted as amicus curiae (friend of court) in many environmental cases, presented before the bench a list of priority matters, which included the Haryana and Rajasthan cases, creating buffer zones around national parks and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) case.

Most of these cases involve large investments that are held up till the matter is resolved. The CAMPA case alone deals with 38,000 crore, which would suffice for the entire afforestation effort in the country, Salve told the court.

The central government wishes to transfer this money to its consolidated fund. The forest bench will hear the case on 11 August.

Although the forest bench is trying to do its best, the number of cases before it is very high, a lawyer said on condition of anonymity.

To deal with the backlog, which goes back to at least 2004, the forest bench would need to sit daily, instead of the present system of once a week, the lawyer said. The alternative is to let the high courts and the National Green Tribunal deal with these cases, with the apex court hearing the matter in appeal, he suggested.

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Published: 05 Aug 2014, 12:27 AM IST
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