VIJAYAWADA: The Southern Zonal bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked Andhra Pradesh to present its concluding arguments in the contempt petition filed against the Rayalaseema lift scheme (RLS) on October 4. The bench, consisting of judicial member Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member K Satyagopal, on Thursday continued the hearing on the contempt petition filed by original petitioner Gavinolla Srinivas and the Telangana government, alleging that the AP government had taken up RLS works in violation and contempt of the tribunal’s earlier order.
The Telangana government presented its concluding arguments during the heating. It is learnt that the neighbouring State government’s counsel submitted to the bench that the tribunal has the right to take action against the AP government and maintained that more than required works were taken up in the name of detailed project report (DPR) preparation.
The counsel representing the petitioner also submitted that action could be taken as per section 25, 26 nd 30 of the NGT Act. The petitioner’s advocate also pointed out that there was a CWC member in the KRMB committee that submitted a report noting that works “in excess” for preparation of the DPR were taken up. He added the committee would have taken into consideration the CWC guidelines for preparation of the DPR while submitting the report and noted that the tribunal could initiated action.
In the previous hearing on September 27, the AP government’s advocate presented arguments on the question whether or not the powers of the Tribunal in dealing with Section 25, 26 and 30 of the the NGT Act, 2010, and the powers under the Code of Civil Procedure, Order 21 rule (32) can be exercised in this case based on both legal standing and actual position. Since TS made its concluding arguments on Thursday, AP is learnt to have sought time to present its final arguments based on the submissions made by TS and petitioner.
After considering the arguments of all the parties, the tribunal posted the matter to October 4, giving AP an opportunity to conclude its arguments. The tribunal reportedly said it will reserve the order and take a final decision on contempt by considering all the views and arguments.
Tribunal to reserve order
The tribunal posted the matter to October 4, giving AP an opportunity to conclude its arguments. The tribunal reportedly said it will reserve the order and take a final decision on contempt by considering all the views and arguments