Legal Era Nov 2017 | Page 16

16 Nation @ Glance Nation @ Glance Tribunal SUBMIT REPORT ON STEPS TAKEN TO CLEAN GANGA: NGT TO CENTRE Monday, October 16, 2017 the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao) and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 meters from the river. The bench further made it clear that in the event of non compliance, it will be compelled to pass coercive orders. A bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, has asked the Centre as well as state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to file a status report on the Ganga cleaning in the stretch between Gomukh and Unnao. The green panel also passed several directions including a ‘No Development Zone’ (an area of 100 meters from “All the counsels appearing for their respective clients will inform these directions to them. Copy of this order, also, be sent to DG of National Mission for Clean Ganga; Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for compliance,” the bench said. In its July 13 order, the green panel laid out the ‘way ahead’ and shared ‘a new perspective’ for cleaning and rejuvenating Ganga river in the next two years with a string of directions, including an announcement of `50,000 as environmental compensation for throwing any kind of garbage into the river. Allahabad High Court DECLARATION OF LAND ACQUISITION WITHIN A YEAR OF PUBLICATION IN OFFICIAL GAZETTE: ALLAHABAD HC Monday, October 16, 2017 A declaration of land acquisition under Section 3(D) of the National Highways Act, 1956 must be made within one year of the date of publication of a notification in the Official Gazette, and not the date of publication of the same in the newspapers, as ruled by the Allahabad High Court. The case relates to the acquisition of land on National Highway-25, the declaration for which was published in the Official Gazette in December 2012. As per Section 3A (3) of the Act, the notification is required to be published in two newspapers as well, and the same was done on February 27, 2013. A declaration of acquisition under Section 3D is required to be made within one year of the notification under Section 3A. Pranjal Mehrotra, preferred a writ seeking a direction to the ADM to sign off on a fresh 3A (1) notification. The petitioners, represented by Senior Advocate RK Ojha, attacked this communication in a writ filed in the High Court on February 18, 2014. In response, the NHAI, described by Read more: http://www.legaleraonline.com/news/declaration-of- land-acquisition-be-made-within-a-year-of-publication-allahabad-hc On January 27, 2014, the Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had sent a message to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) claiming that the declaration under Section 3D (1) of the Act cannot be issued for the reason that a period of one year has already lapsed. N ovember 2017 | L egal E ra | www . legaleraonline . com In front of a Division Bench of Justices Dilip Gupta and Dinesh Kumar Singh-I, Ojha contended that the period of one year must be calculated from the date of publication of the notification in two newspapers. He also debated that the time period between filing the writ petition and its decision ought to be excluded, as there was no temporary order staying the proceedings.