HC issues contempt notice to under secretary over incorrect data on Maha wetlands

The Bombay high court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to Joy Thakur, under secretary in the state environment department for putting forth incorrect information

The Bombay high court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to Joy Thakur, under secretary in the state environment department for putting forth incorrect information about wetlands in Maharashtra.

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The bench of justice SJ Kathawalla and justice MN Jadhav was irked to note that it had unnecessarily summoned district collectors of Nagpur, Parbhani and Nandurbar on the basis of a statement made by Thakur in his affidavit.

While Thakur had stated that there were 803 wetlands (561 in Nagpur, 164 in Nandurbar and 78 in Parbhani), wetlands in these three districts, the district collectors maintained that there were no wetlands in the three districts.

Last week the three district collectors appeared before the bench and maintained that there were no wetlands in the three districts. Thereafter the bench had sought an explanation from Thakur as to why he made a false statement in his affidavit.

On Tuesday, Thakur filed a further affidavit explaining that the data in his previous affidavit referred to sites verified and visited by the revenue department officials for ground truthing in the three districts.

The court, however, found the explanation unacceptable. “What does this mean,” the bench asked government pleader Priyabhushan Kakade after he read out the clarificatory part of Thakur’s affidavit.

The judges said that it was prompted to summon the district collectors only because of the purportedly incorrect figures put forth by Thakur. The bench added that the three district collectors are responsible officers and the court would not have wasted their day by summoning them, but for the statement made by the under secretary and asked Kakade to check if Thakur was willing to pay fine of ₹1 lakh from his own pocket. The bench waited for a response for a minute and issued the contempt notice to the under secretary as it did not get any response to the query.

The affidavit filed by Thakur earlier disclosed that the wetland atlas published by space application centre in January 2010 showed 44,714 wetlands in Maharashtra. However, after a change in the definition of wetlands and excluding private, man-made water bodies and water bodies meant to supply for human consumption, the number of wetlands in the state has come down to 15,865. Of this, 15,189 sites have been visited and verified by experts appointed at district levels and balance 676 sites are in the process of verification.

The affidavit has come in response to public interest litigation filed by Vanashakti Public Trust, raising a grievance about lack of action against builders who were illegally reclaiming lands and carrying out construction after dumping debris on wetlands and mangrove areas in flagrant violation of the rules and provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

Acting on the PIL, on October 14, 2013, the court has directed that no reclamation and construction of any kind shall be carried out without the prior permission of the court in the areas identified as wetland areas in the wetland atlas prepared by the Centre and the urban development department was directed to issue a circular intimating all municipal corporations about the court directive.