PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the NGT’s order on private forests while redirecting the petitioners to approach the Supreme Court, if they so wish, given that the orders of the NGT should ideally be challenged in the apex court.
A bunch of Salgaocar owned companies with an interest in real estate had approached the High Court on grounds of natural justice arguing that despite their properties being earmarked to be notified as private forests, they were not heard before such a decision.
The High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and M S Jawalkar, said that the NGT Act provides that decision of the tribunals can only be appealed in the Supreme Court “as long as legal provisions are not amended, it will not be appropriate for us to hold that the decisions of the Supreme Court are per incuriam (lack of regard for law) because they are against the spirit of (Supreme Court’s) observations.”
“The action impugned by the petitioners is nothing but a fallout of orders and directions made by the NGT in the proceedings before it. The record indicates that the NGT was monitoring the issue of demarcating private forest in the State of Goa for quite some time. It is in pursuance of the orders made by the NGT that the committee came to be appointed to give a report. Ultimately, it was the NGT that accepted the report of the committee. Therefore, if any party has any grievance of the orders made by the NGT appointing such committee and accepting the report made by such committee then, it is only appropriate that such party avails of statutory remedies available under the NGT Act,” the High Court ruled.
The firms complained in their petitions that they had not been given a hearing in the matter before the finalization of the report, and therefore, they suffered from violation of the principles of natural justice.
The High Court relied upon its orders passed in the recent past holding that such petitioners had a right of appeal against the NGT before the Supreme Court, and that the Apex Court had already issued a notice in some matters where such appeals had been filed.
