CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice to the registry of the National Green Tribunal on a plea challenging its order to transfer all suo motu matters pending before various benches of the tribunal having pan-India or inter-State implications to the principal bench at Delhi.
According to the petitioner, MR Thiyagarajan, the president of Meenava Thanthai KR Selvaraj Kumar Meenavar Nala Sangam, the entire NGT Act and the NGT Rules are completely silent on the NGT having suo moto jurisdiction. It is a settled principle of law that a tribunal, such as the NGT, which is a creature of statute, cannot travel beyond the provisions of the statute and must act within its four corners. This principle has been upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011, he added.
He also stated that on June 12, 2021, a National Green Tribunal office ordered that all suo-moto matters having pan-India, inter-State implications will be listed at the Principal Bench of at least three members. It is arbitrary, unsustainable and illegal, stressed the petitioner.
The plea alleged that each NGT bench deals with matters related to natural resources such as rivers and forests, which cover multiple States and have downstream and upstream effects owing to movement of air, water, animals etc. By the impugned order, the NGT benches, apart from the principal bench at New Delhi, have all been ousted from taking cognizance of issues that arise within their territorial jurisdiction. Thus, the impugned order is wholly contrary to the scheme of the NGT Act, the petitioner contended.
The first bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy admitting the plea ordered the Union government and the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench to respond to the plea by July 30.
Natural enclosures for all temple elephants sought
Chennai: An animal welfare activist moved the Madras High Court on Friday seeking direction to all temples in TN and Puducherry to house their elephants in a large enclosure surrounded by natural settings and having a water pool. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the State to respond to the plea in four weeks. “Wherever possible, such elephants should be enclosed with other elephants of nearby temples.
Also, authorities should take steps to provide female elephants with the company of male elephants from any of the camps maintained by the forest department,” S Muralidharan, the petitioner, said. He added,
“All temple elephants must be moved to a natural area near temples and not let them stand all day on a hard surface. Every temple elephant should have such a facility of a couple of acres fenced, where they can be let loose.”