No Go Tribunal

NGT jurisdiction change is devious; reasons should be made public

| AUGUST 23, 2017, 03:20 AM IST

 

On the face of it, it is the most devious decision taken. The move to bring Goa under the jurisdiction of the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal is, pending any clarification to the contrary by the government, deviously designed to discourage Goans from approaching the tribunal in search of environmental justice.
The repeated rants by the state's political class especially Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his sidekick Siddharth Kuncaliencar against environmental activists is well documented. Seen in this light, it is not difficult to deduce why the BJP and especially Parrikar would want the cases to be transferred to the National Green Tribunal -- to make it prohibitively expensive for activists to approach the tribunal and stall the politicians pet projects.
What the ruling class has not realised is that they have benefitted from this environmental activism while in the opposition only to seek to quell it when in power. The most prominent case is that of the Siolim jetty which Minister of Water Resources Vinoda Paliencar seeks to use for his political mileage at the cost of his opponent and BJP leader Dayanand Mandrekar.
Mandrekar's pet project was stalled by the NGT with the department asked to obtain their environmental clearances afresh in view of the expanded nature of the project. The people who approached the NGT against this project would not have done so if the NGT was located in Delhi and in all likelihood the project would have gone ahead unchallenged. What then of the protestations of the present minister? Similarly there are several projects that were kept on hold until the government completed its due process under laws and rules that those in the government themselves have framed. The MPT expansion and dredging projects ostensibly to handle much larger shipments of coal as well where the NGT ordered that there be a public hearing before the EC could be granted is another prominent case.
On the other hand, in other crucial cases like that against the procedure followed by the government in clearing the construction of the third Mandovi bridge and the Saligao garbage treatment plant, often cited by Parrikar and others, it must be remembered that the NGT did not stay these projects even for a moment and only set conditions for the construction, again to the advantage of the environment and to no disadvantage to the government.
On the other hand, the NGT has in equal measure imposed costs on petitioners approaching it with frivolous petitions solely with the purpose of stalling business interests. What's evident is that the ruling class' misgivings against the NGT are clearly misplaced.
It is these misgivings that are widely believed to be the reason behind the decision to change the jurisdiction. The government needs to comes clean on the motives, which at the moment appear devious. If, hoping against hope, the government does have noble intentions in this change, it is important that they are made public.

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