Guwahati, June 1: The Kolkata-based Eastern Zone (EZ) Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a committee with three top officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to comprehensively inquire about a case related to the alleged unlawful diversion of 28 hectares (Ha) of land of the Geleky Reserve Forest in Sivasagar district of the state for non-forestry use. It has also asked the respondents to file their counter-affidavits in this case (Original Application No. 105/2024/EZ) within four weeks, since May 29.The application of the case is RTI-cum-environmental activist Rohit Choudhury, and the respondents include the Assam government and four others, including the MoEF&CC.The NGT Bench-constituted committee in this case includes the MoEF&CC Additional Director General of Forest, who is dealing with the Forest (Conservation) Act; the MoEF&CC Additional Secretary, nominated by the Ministry’s Secretary, and the Deputy Director General of Forests (C) of the Ministry’s Integrated Regional Office, Meghalaya.The committee has been asked to visit the site and submit its report on the affidavit. The MoEF&CC Additional Director General of Forest will file the report as the nodal officer, the NGT Bench said in its May 29 order.In his application, Choudhury alleged that the Assam Forest Department has illegally diverted 28 hectares of reserved forest land for the establishment of an Assam Commando Battalion Camp in the Assam-Nagaland interstate border area of the Geleky Reserved Forest without any MoEF&CC approval. The permission has been illegally granted by MK Yadava, the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and the Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Assam. Yadava is presently the Special Chief Secretary (Forest) at the Government of Assam.Yadava has misused his power and position to illegally divert a part of the forest area without fulfilling the requirements of compensatory afforestation and net present value. This has made him personally liable for compensating and restoring the damage done to the forest, Choudhury said.He also referred to the NGT New Delhi Bench suo-motu, taking up the matter of Yadava, ‘illegally’ allowing clearance of protected forest land measuring 44 Ha for housing a 2nd Commando Battalion unit at Damcherra within the Inner Line Reserve Forest (ILRF) in the state’s Hailakandi district. This case was registered by the NGT New Delhi as Original Application No.- 61/2024 on January 23, 2024.The MoEF&CC counter affidavit filed in the ILRF case stated that it had directed the state government to stop and discontinue the alleged construction activities forthwith on this plot of forest land, through a letter dated March 18, 2024. The Ministry also requested its Shillong Regional Office to initiate action under sections 3A and 3B of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. The Ministry’s affidavit reflects that the construction has been done in utter violation of the norms.In the case of Geleky Reserve Forest, Yadava had written to the Officer-in-Charge, Eastern Assam Circle, that the construction of a police battalion camp could be approved “in the interest of conservation and protection of forest land.”- By Ajit Patowary
Ocean of Knowledge