ORDER

I.A. No. 77/2020

1. This application had been filed on 04.09.2020 for modification of the orders dated 27.01.2020 and

18.08.2020 for expunging the observation with respect to limiting the issue raised in the present application to violation of conditions relating to compliance of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

2. Upon perusal of the application, we find that the application in the first instance is in the nature of a review which cannot be permitted having been filed far in excess of the limitation prescribed under Rule 22(1) of the National Green Tribunal (Practices and Procedure) Rules, 2011. Secondly, even on the merits, we find the plea raised in the application to be an afterthought as the orders being sought to be modified were passed in open court after due deliberations for considerable length of time in court.

3. The application thus stands dismissed.

O.A. No. 182/2016/EZ

4. In the present application, violation of the various conditions of the Environmental Clearance has been alleged although specific allegations pertain to Stage-II Forest Clearance, non-compliance of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, specified in clause 17 of the Environmental Clearance, green belt having not been established, etc.

5. Since, the case had been pending for inordinately long time and had been placed before us only on 18.01.2018 and thereafter on 17.04.2018, in order to assess the present status, vide order dated 23.11.2017, a Committee was constituted comprising of (i) the Conservator of Forest of concerned Forest Circle; (ii) the Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board; (iii) the Member Secretary, SEIAA, Jharkhand and, (iv) a senior Scientist/Engineer from the Regional Office of the MoEF&CC, Ranchi.

6. The 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 the Environmental Clearance. Report was directed to be submitted within one month, which was eventually filed on 20.11.2019.

7. The case was then taken up on 27.01.2020, when the reply to the report of the Committee and affidavits in reply filed by the Respondent No. 6 as well as to the counter affidavit of the said Respondent dated 17.08.2019, were considered. After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties at a considerable length, it was agreed that the only question left for determination in the case was as to whether the State respondents had complied with the requirements of the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, more particularly Section 6, which under Stage–I Forest Clearance was mandatorily required to be complied with.

8. During the proceedings today, the learned Counsel for the Applicant has referred to Annexure IIA–Compliance Status of Conditions of Stage-I Forest Clearance by emphasizing on Sl. No. xvii thereof, to state that in response to the query with regard to obtaining clearance under the provisions of Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the “user agency did not produce the certificate before the Committee towards the settlement of all claims and rights over the proposed forest land under the Act, as per the advisory dated 03.08.2009 issued by the MoEF&CC.” It was submitted that the Respondent No. 6 in its counter affidavit has stated that as per the S.D.O, no claim had been received under the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the Authority to do so u