Meghalaya High Court constitutes 5-member Committee to balance environment & development
The Meghalaya High Court at Shillong on June 30, 2021 constituted a five member high powered committee (“HPC”) with regards to a public interest litigation which deals with cutting/ felling of trees of considerable heritage to widen the National Highway 40 which connects Shillong Dawki road in the vicinity of Eastern Air Command.
Bench of Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice HS Thangkhiew constituted the HPC to balance both environmental concerns as well as infrastructural concerns without compromising on the conservation of trees or the development and expansion of the road project.
The five member HPC consists of the following members:
- Shri Amit Kumar, learned Advocate General;
- Shri Kaustav Paul, learned Senior Advocate, who is appearing in-person in the. Instant PIL;
- A representative of the Forests and Environment Department, Government of Meghalaya at Shillong;
- A representative of Respondent No. 10, namely National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.; and
- A member of general public, namely Shri Jiwat Vaswani @ Bablu.
The Court has directed the Committee to look into the specific grievances sought to be highlighted in the plea and thereafter submit a comprehensive report after conducting a detailed enquiry with regard to the issue as highlighted and upon inspection of the actual site.
The matter has been listed for three weeks from now for future consideration.
Case Title: Kaustav Paul v. Union of India, PIL No. 7/2021