Interim panel in violation of SC order: Dahanu environ body

MUMBAI: Justice (retd) Arun Chaudhari, the newly appointed chairman of Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPS), in an order, has said that the interim monitoring committee appointed by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) was in violation of Supreme Court directive. The order issued last week states that the office memorandum of October 2020 was void ab initio and its withdrawal was correct.

Following the death of Justice

Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari

, the

DTEPA

chairman, the ministry had as an interim arrangement reconstituted the authority under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary/principal secretary urban development department. Dahanu taluka has been declared as an eco-sensitive zone and any development work in the area must obtain permission from DTEPA.

When the MoEFCC filed an application before the SC for approval to the reconstitution, the Conservation Action Trust (CAT) filed an intervention plea and then a special leave petition. “During the hearing, the MoEFCC accepted the reconstitution was in violation of the SC directive that mandated that the authority must be headed by a retired HC judge. It then withdrew its order,” said

Debi Goenka

, executive trustee, CAT. He added that they would await the final SC order.