The Bombay High Court has granted liberty to Sadanand Kadam, close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab, to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) within four weeks and deposit Rs25,27,500, as a pre-condition for the tribunal to hear his challenge to the order issued by Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) in January 2022 directing him to demolish his Sai Resort in Dapoli.
A bench of Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain, however, has clarified that in case Kadam fails to file the appeal within four weeks, accompanied by Rs25,27,500, then the authorities concerned are at liberty to implement the demolition order.
Notable, if Kadam does not file an appeal before the NGT, then he has to, anyways, pay Rs25,27,500 as environment compensation, as directed by the MOEFCC.
Kadam had approached the HC challenging the January 31, 2022 office memorandum (OM) issued by MOEFCC issuing various directions under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 for violations of CRZ 2011 and directed to remove the subject structure in its entirety and restore the land to its original condition. Moreover, MOEFCC, on August 22, 2022, asked the MCZMA and MPCB to recover Rs25, 27,500 from Kadam environmental compensation.
Subsequently, a demolition order was issued by the Additional Collector on December 6, 2023. Kadam approached the HC challenging this demolition order. During hearings in this petition, Kadam gave an undertaking to the HC and demolished a portion of the structure which was unauthorised.
An aggrieved person has to first approach NGT challenging MOEFCC’s order within a limited period.
Since, Kadam has approached the HC challenging Collector’s order, he did not approach the NGT.
Kadam’s advocate Saket Mone, on Thursday sought leave to withdraw the petition and approach the NGT.
The bench noted that considering the provisions of the Environment Protection (EP) Act and NGT Act, Kadam has “alternate and efficacious” remedy to approach the tribunal. “Considering the above provisions, we see no reason to entertain this petition. Petitioner has alternate and efficacious remedies available under EP act read with NGT Act. No reason exists to bypass these alternate remedies,” the bench noted.
While staying the demolition order for four weeks, the HC said: “If the appeal is indeed instituted within four weeks from today, accompanied by a deposit of R 25,27,500, the tribunal could entertain appeal on merit and dispose it off as expeditiously as possible,” the court added.
The bench has clarified that this is an interim arrangement and the NGT should decide on Kadam’s plea on merit, “completely uninfluenced by this interim arrangement”.
"If no appeal, accompanied with Rs25,27,500, is filed within four weeks, this interim arrangement will not operate and concerned authorities will implement the order of Jan 31, 2022,” the bench emphasised.
