Panaji | August 22, 2017:

The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday passed an interim order and stayed the recent order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to transfer National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) jurisdiction for Goa.

The order directed the petitions from the State to to be filed at the principal bench in Delhi instead of the western zone bench in Pune.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the High Court on Monday appointed Sarath Lotlikar as amicus curie and decided to schedule the hearing of the case for September 5.

The interim stay was hailed by the State unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had condemned the MoEF’s decision as illogical and arbitrary.

The MoEF order was alleged to be a move by the NDA government to infringe on the independent functioning of the judicial arm of the State and put up hurdles for environmentalists.

The AAP alleged that the order was prompted following successful efforts by Goa’s anti-coal pollution activists to stall Adani Group’s expansion plans at the Mormugao Port Trust in Vasco.

Abhijit Prabhudesai of Rainbow Warriors, an environmental organisation opposing illegal mining, said that the MoEF order was aimed at discouraging activists from taking up environmental issues with the NGT.

Earlier, around 35 environmental groups and civil society organisations had protested against the order and demanded that it be rolled back.

The NGOs claimed the order was “anti-people” and vowed to intervene and challenge the decision in court.

(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)