NGT slaps ₹27-lakh fine on ministry over delay in green plan for Matheran

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday imposed a fine of ₹27 lakh on the Union environment ministry for submission of a faulty zonal master plan (ZMP) for the

 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday imposed a fine of ₹27 lakh on the Union environment ministry for submission of a faulty zonal master plan (ZMP) for the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of Matheran, the only pedestrian hill station in Asia, after a 15-year delay. The ministry has to pay the fine within two weeks of the order.

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A ZMP for an ESZ refers to a detailed plan for municipal zones, area development, forest management, heritage and tourism plans, formulated by the state and approved by the Centre, to ensure a balance is struck between development and environmental impacts caused by soil erosion, water and air pollution.

Matheran’s ZMP was supposed to be completed within two years from the first notification issued by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in November 2003. In an order passed by the NGT on August 23, 2018, the state government was fined ₹1 lakh for failing to finalise the ZMP and the environment ministry was given two months to complete it.

The NGT said it would further impose ₹10,000 per day for the delay (by Maharsahtra or MoEFCC), if the ZMP was not submitted in time.

On Friday, the same bench, headed by justice Raghuvendra S Rathore and expert member SS Garbyal, noted that the final ZMP for the ESZ was incomplete. “It is submitted that the said plan does not incorporate the sub-zonal master plan outside municipal areas, heritage plan, forest management plan and area development plan,” the NGT order said.

Representatives from MoEFCC said that the date for finalisation of the ZMP was July 23 this year. “The inevitable conclusion is that the [finalisation] was done beyond a period of nine months of the time granted to the ministry for doing the needful...ESZ for the master plan for Matheran Hill Station was initiated prior to the year 2003,” the order read. The fine for the delay was calculated from last year’s order [August 23, 2018] to July 23, 2019, with ₹10,000 per day amounting to ₹27 lakh. The tribunal was hearing a petition by Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG), filed in 2016, seeking to finalise the ZMP. In 2018, BEAG filed an execution application to expedite the matter.

“This will be a precedent for all ZMP for ESZ areas as we don’t think NGT has come down so harshly,” said Sanjay Upadhyay, environmental lawyer and counsel for petitioners. “We welcome the order but we do have objections to the current ZMP as it is not in accordance to law. We will be filing a separate case.”