Gujarat might claim to be environmentally-conscious state, but when it comes to resolving legal issues relating to pollution, is the government equally prompt?
Gujarat might claim to be environmentally-conscious state, but when it comes to resolving legal issues relating to pollution, is the government equally prompt? I
t may not appear so, as there seems to be some confusion over the existence of designated courts to deal with environment related cases in Gujarat. Union ministry says Gujarat disposes the cases in designated courts, while GPCB claims in an RTI query that no such courts exist.
Responding to former Amreli MP Virjibhai Thummar’s question in parliament in December 2008, seeking information on the number of pollution related cases pending before the government and action taken in this regard, Union minister of state Namo Narain Meena of the previous UPA regime had replied that 3,548 cases are pending. He added that Gujarat, along with UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and NCT Delhi, had set up designated courts to deal with environment related cases. He had cited the Central and respective state pollution control boards as the source of his information.
However, when environment activist Mahesh Pandya, following up on this answer, filed an RTI query requesting information on the details and functioning of such courts in the state, Gujarat Pollution Control Board said, “There is not a single environment court in Gujarat.” Moreover, the reply revealed that no notification has been issued in this regard either.
Shocked by this reply, Pandya claimed that even the Parliament had been misled. “If the GPCB has replied in an RTI query that such designated courts for pollution related cases do not exist in Gujarat, who is responsible for misleading the parliament?” Pandya says.
Confirming that designated environment courts are indeed amiss in Gujarat, the recently-appointed member-secretary of GPCB says, “I am not sure how such a mistake would have occurred in giving information to the Parliament. Though we have indeed tried several times to get such a court, nothing has materialised. At one point of time, we had around 3,000 pending cases, still the Supreme Court does not see it as an enough reason for having a special court.”
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