[Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023] Supreme Court stays Madras HC order stalling proceedings calling for public suggestions

  • Puneet Deshwal
  • 10:42 AM, 05 Jun 2023

Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The High Court had put a hold on Parliamentary Committee’s proceedings on the ground that calling for suggestions only in Hindi or English language would render the process “futile”.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed operation of the Madras High Court’s decision staying the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s  
Press Communique calling for public suggestions on Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023.

In the impugned order, the High Court had put a hold on Parliamentary Committee’s proceedings on the ground that calling for suggestions only in Hindi or English language would render the process “futile”. 

“The High Court ought not to have interfered in the process in the absence of the respondent-writ petitioner demonstrating a legal right to have publication of the contents of the Bill in Tamil or in any regional language other than Hindi and English,” said a vacation Bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Pankaj Mithal.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union of India, argued that the High Court ought not to have interfered in the legislative process. 

Referring to the affidavit filed by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, he told the court that the Tamil version of the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 will be published by Monday, June 05. However, the SG clarified that publication of Press Communique in Tamil will not be taken as a precedent for future cases.

The apex court recorded the assurance given by the Solicitor General and ordered that seven days be granted to lodge objections (if any), post publication of the Bill in Tamil language. 

Through a Press Communique released on May 03, the Joint Committee had invited suggestions on the Amendment Bill from the general public, NGOs, experts and other stakeholders. However, such suggestions were required to be sent in English or in Hindi within 15 days.

A PIL was instituted before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking a direction to provide Tamil translation of the Amendment Bill and to accept suggestions in Tamil language. 

In its impugned order, the High Court said that “If the Amendment Bill or the Press Communique are not made available in the vernacular languages other than English and Hindi, the object behind calling for suggestions from the public could be defeated.” 

Staying the process, the High Court had asked the government to explore the possibilities of publishing translated copies of the Amendment Bill as well as Press Communique in all the vernacular languages of the country.

“While the endeavour of the respondents (Parliamentary Committee) in calling for suggestions from the public is laudable, the same could rendered futile if the notification seeking for suggestions does not reach to such sections of the public, who are not familiar with either the English or the Hindi languages,” it said.