DONTHI NARASIMHA REDDY Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, as Public Interest Litigation, the petitioner seeks a Writ of Mandamus to the respondents to forthwith stop execution of Musi River Belt Project also called as "Nandanavanam Project" undertaken by the respondents for cleaning and de-polluting the Musi river.

(2.) There is no dispute that the project in question was undertaken for a public purpose, namely, de-polluting the Musi River, to eradicate mosquito menace in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, to make the entire river belt as lungs space for the citizens of Hyderabad etc. Though the petitioner has no serious objection regarding the implementation of the project, but, he objects in regard to the manner in which it is sought to be executed, inter alia, on the grounds that

(3.) Before going into the merits of the case, we may refer to the notifications issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the Government of India dealing with the environmental aspects. The Ministry of Environment and Forests issued the notification dated 27-1-1994 in exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Act read with clause (d) of sub-rule (3) of Rule 5 of the Rules providing that no expansion or modernisation of any activity of pollution load is to exceed the existing one and that no new project listed in Schedule-I appended to the said notification shall be undertaken in any part of India unless it has been accorded environmental clearance by the Central Government in accordance with the procedure laid down in the said notification. The notification provides for the requirements and procedure for seeking environmental clearance of projects enumerated in Schedule-I. Briefly, we may state that the notification dated 27-1-1994 contemplates constitution of an Impact Assessment Agency (IAA), constitution of Experts Committee consisting of experts in each discipline, such as Eco system. Air/ Water Pollution Control, Water Resource Management, ecology, environmental health etc., and providing of public hearing by the impact assessment agency. Schedule-II of the notification provides for application for clearance and Schedule-III provides for the composition of Expert Committee for environmental impact assessment. Before clearance is issued for any project, the various committees contemplated under the notification have to study the impact of the project in all respects as provided in the Act and the Rules and the Impact Assessment Agency has to solicit comments from the public by arranging public hearings for the purpose after giving one month's notice in two newspapers and thereafter only environmental clearance certificate will be issued. In continuation of this notification, another notification has been issued by the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests in G.O.Ms. No. 318(E), dated 10-4-1997 making certain amendments to the earlier notification dated 27-1-1994. Apart from this, the notification also added Schedule-IV, which contemplates a detailed procedure for public hearing. It is not necessary to deal with the various aspects mentioned in the said schedule. What is contemplated in the schedule is, process of public hearing, notice of public hearing, composition of public hearing panel etc. The panel consists of representatives of State Pollution Control Board, District Collector, Representative of State Government dealing with the subject, Representative of Department of the State Government dealing with Environment, three representatives of the local bodies, three senior citizens of the area nominated by the District Collector. The State Pollution Control Board shall cause notice for "Environmental Public Hearing" which shall be published in atleast two newspapers widely circulated in the region around the project, one of which shall be in the vernacular language of the locality concerned duly mentioning the date, time of place of public hearing and it shall invite suggestions, views, comments and objections of the public and after hearing the public, the matter has to be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Rules arid the procedure prescribed in the notification and thereafter decision will be taken in the matter of grant of clearance certificate. One of the main contentions of the petitioner is that no such "Environmental Public Hearing" as contemplated by the above notifications has been given in the instant case.