Panaji (GOA) In a major blow to the Green worriers battling for the protection of environment, the Central Government in an unexpected move has restricted the Goa jurisdiction to file the litigation before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Delhi Principal Bench only.
The move has been strongly opposed by the Congress party, which has demanded that a special bench be set up in Goa.
Untill now, Goa’s jurisdiction was restricted t Western Zone-Pune bench, along with Gujarat and Maharashtra. Of the total cases filed before this bench, 40 percent consist of Goa.
In a notification issued by the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), it has specified the ordinary places of sitting and territorial jurisdiction of the NGT.
As far as Goa is concerned, its jurisdiction is restricted to Principal bench only. The other states along with Goa include, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Western Zone will now consist of the cases related to Gujarat and Maharashtra only.
Raising its strong objection, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Shantaram Naik said that the notification is arbitrary, ill-logic and malicious, considering the distance between Goa and Delhi.
“The notification is complete violation of human rights,” former MP said demanding that a special NGT bench be set up in Goa.
Team TNV