The Court upheld that issues already settled by the NGT regarding land acquisition compliance under the 2006 Act could not be reopened in PIL, affirming the authority of prior adjudication.

JUDGMENT :

M.S. Ramachandra Rao, C.J.

1. Heard the parties.

2. In W.P. (PIL) No.5732 of 2016, the petitioner had prayed for cancellation of acquisition and possession of forest land for the benefit of National Thermal Power Corporation and sought directions to stop the excavation of coal in the said acquired land and in the adjoining areas. Direction is also sought to order judicial enquiry into the acquisition of the said forest and non-forest land by the respondents and it is alleged that this was done through manipulation of records and without following the legal positions. Several officers of the State Government, NTPC, Ministry of Environment and Forests and private entities, such as, Gram Sabhas, were impleaded in the writ petition.

3. This Public Interest Litigation has been pending from 28.09.2016 and from time to time, matter was getting adjourned for filing of pleadings by the parties and for other reasons.

4. In the W.P. (PIL) No.1641 of 2019, there are certain allegations of acquisition of Bhudaan Land which had been given to the landless persons for the benefit of the NTPC and, basically, reliefs have been sought for rehabilitation and resettlement under the Jharkhand Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy-2008.

5. The subject-matter of this acquisition was admittedly the subject- matter of Original Application No.182/2016/EZ before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Principal Bench, New Delhi.

6. The NGT had passed an order on 25.09.2020 referring to the various issues relating to forest clearances, compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (for short ‘the 2006 Act’), and to an order dt. 23.11.2017, where, a Committee had been appointed by the NGT (comprising of Conservator of Forest of the concerned Forest Circle; Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board; Member Secretary, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Jharkhand, and; a senior Scientist/Engineer from the Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ranchi).

7. The said order of the NGT records that the said Committee was directed to inspect the project in question and to verify as to whether the conditions of the Forest Clearance and the Environmental Clearance were being complied with by the project proponent and, further directing, that in the event there was failure on the part of the project proponent to do so, appropriate action in accordance with law be taken against the project proponent which may also include suspension and/or withdrawal of Environmental Clearance. The said order records that such a report was eventually filed on 20^th November 2019 and was considered on27.01.2020 by the NGT.

8. The order noted that the NGT felt that the only question left for determination was as to “whether the State respondents had complied with the requirement of the 2006 Law” that the State Government had filed an affidavit stating that the provisions of 2006 Act had been duly complied with; that Gram Sabhas were held in 2011-12 in the respective villages when resolutions were passed with no claims having been made for benefits under the said Law and that the Gram Sabha had certified in their resolution that no claims have been received.

9. Therefore, the NGT on 25.09.2020 closed the O.A. stating that if any person is aggrieved by the resolutions of the Gram Sabha, they have a remedy of filing a petition before the Sub-Divisional Level Committee within a period of sixty days from the date of passing of said resolution by the Gram Sabhas under Section 2 of the 2006 Act, and that no such person had filed any such petition.

10. In our opinion, the order passed by the NGT dt. 25.09.2020 records the satisfaction of the NGT on all aspe