HC to Centre: File affidavit on solar farm in Gautala

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Bombay high court bench at Aurangabad has directed the Union government to file an affidavit detailing the actions taken against solar farms established inside the Gautala wildlife sanctuary without obtaining the necessary wildlife clearances. This directive was issued during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by pensioner Kishor Sonawane, represented by his lawyer Bhushan Mahajan, which seeks the closure of a solar power plant spread across acres in the villages of Shivapur and Bodhare on the border of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalgaon districts. The division bench of the HC, comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice YG Khobragade, heard the case on July 18.Last year, the High Court asked an inquiry report from the district collectors of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalgaon regarding the status of the land. The inquiry report revealed that the villages of Shivapur and Bodhare were included within the Gautala wildlife sanctuary in 1986. Recently, the Centre clarified in a counter affidavit that the companies in question had never applied for wildlife clearance, forest clearance, or environment clearance. Consequently, the HC expressed concern over the steps taken to address the companies' failure to obtain the necessary clearances.The petitioner has accused the companies of illegally acquiring the land and allegedly uprooting thousands of trees from forest land. Lawyer Mahajan argued the Wildlife Act grants govt authorities the power to seize and forfeit anything illegally established on forest-owned land. During the latest hearing, Mahajan brought the HC’s attention to submissions made in the counter affidavit dated June 6, filed by Dr Purushottam R Sakhare, a scientist serving at the regional office of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change in Nagpur. The HC noted the scientist’s affidavit, which stated that the ministry had not received any proposals from Maharashtra govt seeking approval from the National Board for Wild Life for the respondent solar firms’ projects. The affidavit also mentioned that violators of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, are liable for punishment under the Act.The bench issued directives, stating, “We, therefore, desire to know what steps the Union of India has undertaken to address the issue with respondent numbers 17 and 18 (solar farms) for allegedly failing to seek approvals for their projects concerning wildlife clearance, forest clearance, and environmental clearance.”Farmers have alleged that power generation activities were being conducted inside the sanctuary. The HC observed that two entities had occupied 1,070 acres, which exceeds the 300 acres permitted by the monitoring committee of the eco-sensitive zone. This permission was based on an illegal resolution, as only five of 13 committee members were present at the meeting on Feb 7, 2018, that passed the resolution.