India-Forums.TV

[aryan]

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) began final hearing on Friday to examine the alleged violation of forest and environment laws by the Uttar Pradesh government in the construction of statues and memorials for Dalit leaders at a park in Noida near here.

The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had sought some time to file a report but a special forest bench headed by chief justice S H Kapadia said it will not adjourn the matter and, if required, any report could be filed at a later stage.

“We are not inclined to adjourn the matter,” the bench, also comprising justices Aftab Alam and K S Radhakrishnan, said allowing the petitioners, who have challenged the Rs 650-crore project, to advance their arguments.

Senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for some Noida residents, alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government utilised the forest land for non-forest use by constructing memorials of Dalit leaders on 33 hectares of land for which it had uprooted 6194 trees.

He submitted that the state government had not taken permission under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, for going ahead with the project which was near the eco-fragile zone of Okhla bird sanctuary which is less than 500 metre away from the Park.

The authorities in Noida have not adhered to the September 14, 2006, notification of the MoEF relating to the Environment Impact Assessment, the counsel said.

“The state government cannot take the law into its hand,” the counsel said, adding that the Noida authorities should not be allowed to claim fait accompli in the matter on the grounds that a large portion of the work on the project site has been completed.

However, the bench interrupted the counsel and wanted to know from him how he claimed that the land in question was a forest land.

[nahia]

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