Road in sanctuary: NGT tells panel to decide action against Kodagu MLAs

Over 10 years after a Supreme Court-appointed committee sought stern action against BJP MLAs K G Bopaiah and Appachu Ranjan and others for threatening forest officers and taking up a road construction activity in Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary of the Western Ghats, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has remitted the case to the state government.

The incident dates back to 2008 when the construction activity was taken up inside the sanctuary without getting the necessary permissions, especially clearance from the forest department.

The matter reached the Supreme Court after retired air marshal Nanda Cariappa moved a petition. The apex court set up a Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

The CEC submitted a report in 2012 stating that the construction was “not only in violation of the laws of the land but also amounted to contempt” of the apex court orders.

The committee report rejected the argument of Bopaiah, Appachu Ranjan and MLC S G Medappa
that they had gone to the spot to “placate the agitated public”.

“The argument..is not borne out from records as the said respondents had already taken a decision at the meetings of the district vigilance and monitoring committee and the KDP held on 10.12.2008 at Madikeri to go ahead with the construction of the road inside the sanctuary,” it said.

The CEC further noted that the lawmakers threatened forest officials. “The tone and tenor of the minutes of the said meeting and the threats held out to the forest officers not to obstruct the construction of the road cannot be ignored and clearly shows that the action taken on 28.12.2008 was a conscious and deliberate one,” it said.

The CEC had said that the then Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Baladev Krishna and Chief Conservator G Sudarshan did not take action to stop the violation.

On October 3, 2017, the NGT issued notices to everyone involved. However, over the last four years of hearing, except for the affidavit filed by Sudarshan, no further reply was received from the persons named by the CEC.

In an order dated December 13, a bench of the NGT, led by chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, ordered that the issue may be finalised by a joint committee comprising the Chief Secretary of Karnataka and the Regional Officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The NGT has set a three-month deadline for finalising the action in the matter,
making it the responsibility of the Chief Secretary to comply with the joint committee’s decision.