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Hindustan Times
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Restore Kanjur dump to mangrove forest within 3 months: HC to BMC
MUMBAI: In a major setback for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Bombay high court on Friday ordered the civic body to return the dumping ground at Kanjurmarg to its original condition – a mangrove forest – within three months. The division bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Somasekhar Sundaresan struck down as illegal the 2009 de-notification of the 120-hectare plot as forest land and its conversion into a landfill for violating procedures laid down under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980. The court was hearing a plea filed by the nonprofit Vanashakti in 2013, which challenged the grant of environment clearance (EC) for a landfill on the plot adjacent to the Thane creek. Though the plot was originally categorised as a protected forest, in April 2006, the high court had allowed the BMC to use it as a dumping ground following an assurance from the civic body that no mangroves would be destroyed in the process. However, on December 29, 2009, the entire plot was de-notified as forest land in contravention of due process stipulated under the Forest Conservation Act, the petition said. In response, the state government and the BMC told the court that the notification dated December 29, 2009 merely corrected an error in the forest notification, using powers statutorily granted under the General Clauses Act, 1897. Such correction did not require compliance with the process stipulated under the FCA, the government and BMC told the court. Senior counsel Gayatri Singh, representing Vanashakti, submitted that the Forest Conservation rules issued in 2003 stipulated a detailed and finely balanced procedure pertaining to de-reservation and de-notification of forest land. 'Environmental clearance was granted (for the dumping ground) without processing forest clearance and was therefore is illegal,' she asserted. Advocate general Birendra Saraf, representing the state, contended that originally, the land was only marginally covered by mangroves and nothing in the area constituted a forest, much less a 'protected forest'. The Supreme Court had in November 2003 already approved usage of the land for a dumping ground, subject to strict observance of laws relating to pollution, he told the court. The division bench of justices Kulkarni and Sundaresan said that since the plot was originally covered by mangroves, it automatically fell within the coastal regulatory zone I, within the category of protected forest. The Supreme Court had no occasion to consider the implications of the FCA in the November 2003 order as there was no notification of the land as a protected forest at the time, the judged clarified. The division bench ruled that the de-notification of plot as forest land was erroneous, unsustainable and in conflict with provisions of the FCA. 'The absence of compliance with this requirement has led to the failure of due process stipulated in the FCA rules,' the court observed, directing the BMC to restore the 119.91 hectares to its original condition within three months. Any further proposal to de-notify the plot would need to be compliant with provisions of the FCA, the court said and granted three months to the BMC to comply with the order.
Hindustan Times
30-04-2025
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Fresh notification: First time in U.P, MVIs authorised to compound select traffic offences
: For the first time in Uttar Pradesh, motor vehicle inspectors (MVIs) of the transport department have been authorised to compound certain offences related to violation of traffic rules. Compounding is an on-the-spot settlement between offenders and enforcement authorities, allowing the violators to avoid court proceedings by paying a fee or fine specified for each compoundable offence. The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a new notification detailing compounding provisions for various traffic and transport-related offences under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The notification, issued under Section 200(1) of the Act read with Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, supersedes the previous order dated July 30, 2020. Under the new rules notified on April 22 by the principal secretary, transport, designated officers from the transport and police departments, as well as executive magistrates, are authorised to impose compounding fines for a wide range of offences. These include violations such as illegal parking, failure to present driving or pollution certificates, unauthorised operation of vehicles, overloading, misuse of permits and use of hand-held devices while driving. 'The only new thing about the fresh notification is that it also authorises motor vehicle inspectors to compound offences, largely smaller ones,' a senior transport official said. 'The motor vehicle inspectors also called regional inspectors were never empowered to compound offences,' he added. The government in December last year approved the creation 351 posts for Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspectors (AMVI) to address the rising number of road accidents in the state. They will work as tehsil-level functionaries. Among some offences and the fee to get the same compounded are parking violations: ₹500 for the first offence and ₹1,500 for repeat offences. Failure to produce documents: ₹500–Rs1,500, driving without a valid licence: ₹5,000, driving uninsured vehicles: ₹2,000– ₹4,000, disobedience of lawful authority: ₹2,000;overloading: ₹20,000 + ₹2,000 per excess tonne, tampering with registered numbers: ₹5,000– ₹10,000; over-speeding: ₹2000 in the case of light motor vehicle and ₹4000 in case of medium and heavy passenger/goods vehicles, use of handheld communication device while driving: ₹1,000 in case of first offence and ₹10,000 in case of second offence, failure to use safety seat belt: ₹1,000 and not wearing helmet: ₹1,000. The fresh notification also reiterated that electronic versions of documents available on DigiLocker will be accepted as valid proof.
