Western Ghats: Supreme Court quashes plea against Gadgil, Kasturirangan reports

The Supreme Court of India September 12, 2022, dismissed a public interest litigation filed by Krashak Shabdam, a Kerala farmers’ non-profit. The group had challenged the Madhav Gadgil and K Kasturirangan Committees demarcating an area of 56,825 square kilometres spread across six states as the Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).

The six states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The petition was filed in 2020, after the 4th draft notification in 2018 by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

The petition read:

In response to the fourth draft notification, several thousands of representations were made to the MoEF&CC objecting to the various major issues present in the notification which would adversely affect the livelihoods of over 2.2 million people in just the state of Kerala, which went totally ignored.

The petitioner had pleaded to the apex court to not implement the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecologically Expert Panel (Gadgil Committee Report) and the High-Level Working Group (Kasturirangan Committee Report).

It had also asked the apex court to declare the 2018 draft notification as ultra vires (beyond its legal power or authority) as it would lead to the violation of the Right To Life of the citizens hailing from the Western Ghats, especially Kerala.

The Madhav Gadgil Report had classified the whole of the Western Ghats, spread across six states and covering 44 districts and 142 talukas, as an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ).

The Kasturirangan Committee had reduced the ESZ to 37 per cent of the total area, covering about 60,000 sq km. It had recommended that 123 revenue villages be demarcated as ESA.

The petition had added:

To solve the conflict, Oommen Chandy, the former Chief Minister of Kerala in 2014 set up an expert committee to study the loopholes of the previous two committees. According to the new committee, recommendations were made to the government to implement changes in clauses of the Environmentally Fragile Land (EFL) in the Western Ghats, stating the lapses occurring in determining the EFL areas.

It had noted that the Oommen V Oommen Report had recommended that plantations and inhabited areas in the Western Ghats be kept out of the ESA.

The petition had pushed for the implementation of the 2014 report.

This was because “the report made the best suitable recommendations for the implementation of the appropriate measures in the context of the state of Kerala taking into account the population data, environmental conservation measures, safeguarding the agricultural and basic livelihood rights of its citizen.”

But the apex court dismissed the petition stating that the MoEF&CC draft notification it challenged — dated October 3, 2018 — was followed by a fifth draft notification that was issued July 6 2022.

“Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has accepted that this draft Notification was followed by subsequent draft Notification dated 06.07.2022. He further submits that his client has already raised objections to said draft Notification dated 06.07.2022 and the final Notification is yet to be issued,” the court order said.

“Considering these facts, we do not find any reason to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The instant writ petition is, therefore, dismissed. Pending interlocutory application(s), if any stands disposed of,” it added.

The draft notification issued in July prohibits activities like mining, thermal power plants, and all ‘Red’ category industries from coming up in the ESA.

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