Supreme
Court issue new directions for ESZ [3.6.2022]
New
Delhi, 3.6.2022 : The Supreme Court on
Friday directed that all national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the country
which fall under protected forest must earmark a minimum distance of one-kilometre
as eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) where prohibited activities specified by the
Centre, including mining and establishment of any new permanent structure will
not be permitted.
The direction of the Court came on a bunch of applications
filed in a pending petition filed by TN Godavarman, where the Court is suo moto
passing orders for protection of forest resources. In the present order, the
Court dealt with applications by private miners and states for prescribing ESZ
surrounding wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, an issue pending in Court
since 2003.Besides, the Court order also dealt with the issue of mining in and
around the Jamua Ramgarh wildlife sanctuary, situated in Rajasthan.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and
Aniruddha Bose said, “We direct that each protected forest, that is national
park or wildlife sanctuary, must have an ESZ of minimum one kilometer measured
from the demarcated boundary of such protected forest in which the activities
proscribed and prescribed in the Guidelines of Ministry of Environment Forests
and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on 9 February 2011 shall be strictly adhered to.”
Pointing to the role to be played by
state in acting as trustee of natural resources more than facilitating economic
activity in forests, Justice Bose who wrote the judgment for the bench said,
“The state has to act as a trustee for the benefit of the general public in
relation to the natural resources so that sustainable development can be
achieved in the long term.”
IN the 61-page order, the Court
further stated, “Such role of the state is more relevant today, than, possibly
at any point of time in history, with the threat of climate catastrophe
resulting from global warming looming large.
Due to the long passage of time, the
Court noted that in December 2006, the Supreme Court in another case relating
to Goa mining had passed a direction for maintaining 10-kilometre-wide safety
zone from the boundaries in respect of sanctuaries and national parks. However,
this did not deal with the minimum boundary for ESZ.