MUMBAI: Stressing that “unauthorized tree cutting as well as hill cutting is an offence to environment”, the National Green Tribunal’s Pune bench has directed Mumbai-based Vikas Developers not to illegally cut trees on a hilly plot in Khandala and to deposit Rs 40 lakh with the Lonavla Municipal Council for restoring the hill.
The builder illegally cut the hillside and felled trees to make an illegal road without permission from the municipal council, said prominent entrepreneur Nanik Rupani and businessman Ashish Vaid in an application to the NGT in 2015.Both Rupani and Vaid are members of Vikas Valley Cooperative Housing Society , which comprises plots and bungalows in Khandala constructed by Vikas Developers, a proprietary concern of Madan Lal Gupta Family Trust between 1992 2004. Their plea, argued by advocate Aditya Pratap, sought “restitution of the environment to its original state”. Section 20 of the NGT Act imposes the “polluter pays” principle under which a person who damages the environment has to restore it to its original state and is liable to pay penalty .
The developer, through its counsel P D Dalvi, denied any wrongdoing or illegality . He also questioned the timing of the application and said it was filed “with ulterior motives” with falsehoods about a road when there were steps in existence at the site. He also said the application was barred by law of limitation.
Abench of Justice UD Salvi and expert member Ranjan Chatterjee at the NGT’s western zonal bench in Pune on February 28 heard the parties, the municipal council and also relied on a report by a consultancy firm which visited the site.
The NGT said, “We have before us a clear case of tree cutting and hill cutting, which occurred in or around December, 2014 for construction of a road connecting plot No.47 to plot No.14 in Vikas Valley and the facts have been made vivid with photographs and the Google Imagery … The Google imagery reveals area is question showed existence of trees and vegetation in December 2013 and loss of this vegetation on carving out a road like area in January 2015.” The plea is not time barred, the tribunal also held. More importantly, the NGT in its order said, “For seeking restitution of environment, it is not necessary that the applicant has to be victim of pollution or other environmental damage…they have only to show that the environment requires restitution.”