Twenty-four days after the last NGT hearing on July 3, 2015, the NTCA has failed to file their replies to the NGT, despite a ten day deadline. The NTCA also did not have any officers present in the courtroom though the NGT had demanded the same in case of a failure to reply. Though initially they had no answers to the queries of the bench, V.P. Malhotra and M.P. Sahay, the counsel for the NTCA, later justified the delay by stating that they were unable to file the reply as the draft is pending with the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
Unimpressed by this defense, the bench ordered the Member Secretary of the NTCA to be personally present at the next hearing on July 31, 2015. The bench further warned of issuing an arrest warrant against the Member Secretary for failure to reply on time.
The appeal against the permission to cut trees along the Kanha-Pench corridor for the expansion of NH7, is being lead by Srushti Paryavaran Mandal, Conservation Action Trust, and Nature Conservation Society, Amravati. They were represented by Advocates Ritwick Dutta and Saurabh Sharma, both well-known environmental lawyers.
Today's hearing has raised many an eyebrow in conservation circles, and questions as to why the NTCA has sent a draft reply to the Minister when it ought to be functioning as an independent, statutory body, are bound to make things uncomfortable for the authorities.
Meanwhile, the NGT continues to uphold the stay order on the further felling of trees in the corridor, despite the arguments made by the National Highway Authority if India, represented by Member of Parliament and lawyer, Pinaki Mishra.
