SUMANTA SWAIN Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question was raised before the counsel on the first motion as to whether the relief claimed in the instant writ petition can also be claimed before the specialized Tribunal i.e. National Green Tribunal (for short, 'NGT') and, therefore, why the writ Court should not relegate the parties to approach the said Tribunal. In other words, the Bench was of the view that once the specialized Tribunal is constituted to deal with the issues raised in the instant writ petition, whether the litigant can bypass such statutory forum and approach the High Court as a rule of convenience.

(2.) We are not unmindful of the settled proposition of law that the power to issue writs under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and power of superintendence exercised by the High Court over the subordinate courts and Tribunals are inviolable and cannot be abridged or whittled down through a legislative exercise as the same is a basic structure of the Constitution, yet at times, the writ Court may refuse to exercise such powers not as a matter of compulsion, but of discretion. There is no absolute bar in entertaining the writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India despite an alternative remedy available to the litigant, but the writ Court may refuse to entertain such writ petitions and relegate the parties to exhaust the statutory remedy, which is appropriate and effective by using its discretion.

(3.) The point was raised, at the threshold, in the instant writ petition as to why the litigant should not be directed to exhaust such statutory remedy upon noticing the facts narrated in the writ petition and the reliefs claimed therein. The important issues raised in the instant writ petition pertain to unregulated dumping of fly ash during the construction of the National Highway No.49 (for short, 'NH-49') causing pollution in the environment and also causing an extensive damage to the crops of the people in the vicinity. Apart from the same, such dumping of fly ash in an indiscriminate manner causes a contamination of the ponds and the ground water, which are essential for irrigation and the pisciculture, causing death of fish and affects the water body being the source for irrigation.