SC okays infrastructure, building plans in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony

A total of 407 acres in the green Aarey Colony in suburban Mumbai, roughly the size of 18 Oval Maidans, can now be used for infrastructure and building construction projects.

In a setback to city environmentalists, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by NGO Vanashakti and its director Stalin Dayanand against a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.

In January, the tribunal had upheld a 2016 order of the environment ministry (MoEF) to exclude 407 acres of over 15,000 acres notified as an Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

In its appeal before the apex court, Vanashakti said on January 24, 2020 that the NGT bench disposed of its case without hearing the two parties and in their absence.

The environment ministry, while justifying the reduced ESZ, had informed the NGT that the state government had proposed the Metro rail shed in the excluded Aarey land and some slums and highrises exist on the boundary with SGNP.

Last year, trees were cut on land earmarked for the Metro car shed causing an uproar, and the new government is yet to take a final call on the car shed.

Challenging the tribunal’s order before the SC, the NGO said the NGT had “failed to consider that the excluded plot is a heavily forested land that boasts of trees of indigenous forest species and has varied flora and fauna.”

The activist also said allowing construction inside an ESZ will cause “irreparable harm to the highly sensitive ecology of the region which harbours 1,300 species of flowering plants, 45 species of mammals, 43 species of reptiles, 300 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies” and “thereby impact the entire biodiversity of the park.”

The SC bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Abdul Nazeer on Tuesday, however, observed that Mumbai was “a congested city” and Metro was important, and dismissed the NGO’s appeal.

The NGO said that while its challenge was before the NGT, western zone, in Pune, the case was however transferred to the NGT, principal bench, at New Delhi. On January 24, the tribunal passed an ex-parte order without hearing it “wrongly” and “without any application of mind”. It “summarily disposed” the case by accepting the ministry’s affidavit justifying the ESZ reduction.

Vanashakti alleged procedural lapses in transfer of the case from it “territorial jurisdiction.” It said the NGT “acted in complete violation of rules of natural justice in deciding the case without hearing any party.”

In the SC, the NGO’s counsel also mentioned the environmental damage that reduction of ESZ could cause.

The NGT bench of chairperson Justice AK Goel and judicial member Justice S P Wangdi with two expert members Nagin Nanda and Siddhanta Das, after citing two paragraphs from an MoEF affidavit, had in its order said “no further order is necessary”. The ministry had said “the ESZ size was reduced after following due procedure of law and any new construction is allowed as per zonal master plan”.

The ministry had said that during a July 2016 meeting, the Maharashtra government representative informed that “various stakeholder and the public requested for the ESZ reduction and to keep it to bare minimum.”

The NGO’s appeal said the new notification however negated objections submitted by a large number of citizens and altering the draft notification has restricted the scope of declaring an area as ESZ.

“It allows for setting up of all kinds of infrastructure projects (such as the Metro rail projects), commercial establishments, residential buildings, IT Parks including red category industries, in an ESZ area,” the appeal stated.

By the reduction, the NGO said, the government “in a blatantly illegal manner allowed unregulated construction activities and infrastructure works of a hazardous nature to commence inside the ESZ and on the border of the SGNP. This is completely against the spirit and purpose of National Wildlife

Action Plan, 2002-2016 and the subsequent ESZ Guidelines of 2011.”

Among the major projects planned within the exempted 407 acres in Aarey is a slum redevelopment project spread over 90 acres, which will hold 80,000 people.

Stalin Dayanand of Vanashakti said, “We will study the SC order once it is uploaded and decide next steps.

Mumbai is a congested city, Metro important: SC judges

The NGO Vanashakti had told the SC in its appeal in the Aarey case that allowing construction inside an Ecologically Sensitive Zone would cause “irreparable harm to the highly sensitive ecology of the region which harbours 1,300 species of flowering plants, 45 species of mammals, 43 species of reptiles, 300 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies” and “thereby impact the entire biodiversity of the park.”

The SC bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Abdul Nazeer on Tuesday, however, observed that Mumbai was “a congested city” and Metro was important, and dismissed the NGO’s appeal.

The NGO said while its challenge was before the NGT, western zone, in Pune, the case was however transferred to the NGT, principal bench, at New Delhi. On January 24, the tribunal passed an ex-parte order without hearing it “wrongly” and “without any application of mind’.” It “summarily disposed” the case by accepting the ministry’s affidavit justifying the ESZ reduction.

Vanashakti alleged procedural lapses in transfer of the case from its “territorial jurisdiction.” It said NGT “acted in complete violation of rules of natural justice in deciding the case without hearing any party.” In the SC, the NGO’s counsel also mentioned the environmental damage that reduction of ESZ could cause.

The NGT bench of chairperson Justice AK Goel and judicial member Justice S P Wangdi with two expert members Nagin Nanda and Siddhanta Das, after citing two paras from an MoEF affidavit, had in its order said “no further order is necessary.” The ministry had said “ESZ size was reduced after following due procedure of law and any new construction is allowed as per zonal master plan.”

The ministry had said that during a July 2016 meeting, the Maharashtra government representative informed that “various stakeholder and the public requested for the ESZ reduction and to keep it to bare minimum.”

The NGO’s appeal said the new notification however negated objections submitted by a large number of citizens and altering the draft notification has restricted the scope of declaring an area as ESZ.“It allows for setting up of all kinds of infrastructure projects (such as the Metro rail projects), commercial establishments, residential buildings, IT Parks including red category industries, in an ESZ area,” the appeal stated.

By the reduction, the NGO said, the government “in a blatantly illegal manner allowed unregulated construction activities and infrastructure works of a hazardous nature to commence inside the ESZ and on the border of the SGNP. This is completely against the spirit and purpose of National Wildlife Action Plan, 2002-2016 and the subsequent ESZ Guidelines of 2011.”