CUTTACK: The East Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed Rs 25,000 fine on the divisional forest officer (DFO), Jharsuguda, for failing to file a response despite being granted more than three opportunities in a case concerning alleged encroachment of forest land and environmental violations by a private steel plant in the district.
The bench, comprising Arun Kumar Tyagi (Judicial Member) and Ishwar Singh (Expert Member), observed that the DFO’s “non-compliance” had caused “unnecessary adjournment, expense and delay” in disposal of the matter.
The tribunal directed that the fine be paid to the petitioner through his counsel within one month. It also granted one final opportunity to submit the response within the same period, subject to deposit of the cost. The matter has now been posted for further hearing on July 8.
Satrughan Meher, a local resident had filed the petition seeking the Tribunal’s intervention against the ongoing construction work under the steel plant’s capacity expansion project, alleging that it was being carried out without mandatory approval under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
Notices seeking response from authorities concerned had first been issued on September 22, 2025. The petitioner, represented by advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy, also sought an interim stay on the construction activity, alleging that a portion of the land used by the company falls under the “village forest” category and no valid forest diversion clearance was obtained for the project.
RTI documents accessed by the petitioner allegedly showed that an earlier proposal seeking diversion of 5.229 hectare of forest land had lapsed and no fresh application was filed thereafter.
