The court said the government was only a trustee, and must not act like it owned the forest.
The high court on Wednesday asked the state government to halt all activity on two mini-hydel power projects in the Kaganeri Reserve Forests in the Western Ghats.
The court said the government was only a trustee, and must not act like it owned the forest.
Rather than distributing leases for the so-called development of the forest, the state government must strive to safeguard it for posterity, the court observed.
The division bench headed by Justice DV Shylendra Kumar directed the government to ensure that no further development takes place in the areas. It directed the government to update it on what action was being initiated on basis of the deputy conservator of forests’ ( CF) letter to the conservator of forests to cancel leases granted for the projects.
The DCF had written to the CFon December 28, 2011 urging him to cancel the two mining leases for Maruti Power Gen India Pvt Ltd, which was to construct the projects. However, the CFdid not at on it. On March 14, the state government told the court that the official had been transferred.
The bench observed: “It is the duty of the state government to ensure that the forest land is spared while going ahead with such projects.” It said, “It is unfortunate that the state government is leasing out forest land in a sensitive biodiversity area such as the Western Ghats even after the Supreme Court’s directive of prohibition of such activities.”
The court said that though the Western Ghats had been identified as one of the most eco-sensitive areas in the country, the state government, in an insensitive manner, had been granting leases to private companies for its own benefits.”
“Even if certain projects are undertaken, the forest land should be spared. Unfortunately, the state government does not pay any attention to this area. The state government should also understand that forest land is the state’s property, held by the state government as a trustee not just for this generation but also for the future generations,” the bench said. “The government cannot destroy such wealth for development purposes. The state government has acted in a bona fide and non-conforming manner in the grant of the leases”.
The division bench has directed the state government to act in a relevant manner.The Western Ghats Environment Forum and Prashanth Yagaval had filed a PIL in the high court challenging the two projects. Petitioner Prashath contended that the hydel projects would cause irreparable damage to the ecology of the region. Maruti Power Gen India Pvt Ltd was to set up two mini-hydel projects —Yedakumeri power project (18.9 MW) and Hongadallah power project (19 MW) — in the Kaganeri Reserve Forest.
Not only were these projects set up in areas where human-animal conflicts was widespread, certain environmental violations were also committed. Both projects have been upgraded to 24 MW. If a project is of 25 MW capacity, it has to abide by the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 and has to be cleared by the forest department. Since the original project was of more than 25 MW capacity, it was deliberately bifurcated into two projects, the petitioner had alleged.
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