Extending the order staying demolition of Secretariat buildings by one more day, the Telangana High Court on Thursday instructed the Centre to clarify by Friday if an environmental clearance certificate from it was mandatory for demolition of a building.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy would hear the PIL petition challenging demolition of Secretariat buildings again on Friday.
When the hearing resumed in the morning, the bench said the two documents presented by the State government, one by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board and another by the State Level Environmental Assessment Authority (SLEAA), were not clear and could not help the court to arrive at a conclusion.
The bench observed that the two reports did not clarify if environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest is mandatory for pulling down a building.
The bench instructed Assistant Solicitor General N. Rajeshwar Rao to secure instructions form the ministry on this point.
The Chief Justice told the Assistant Solicitor General to ascertain from the ministry whether demolition of a building for preparing the land for future construction requires prior environmental clearance.
“Whether demolition of a building falls within the meaning of preparation of land should also be clarified,” the bench said. Seeking the clarification, the bench cited two examples. A person having 500 trees in his land wanted to erect a structure. Does he or she need to secure permission to cut the trees to construct a building?, the High Court bench said.
Another example
In another example cited, the High Court bench said that a person had land with boulders which had heritage tag. If that land owner wanted to blast the boulders to level and clear the land, is a permission required. Referring to the SLEAA document presented in the court, the bench said it had said that its permission is required for any construction over land of 20,000 square metres to one lakh square metres.
The bench observed that on one hand the government wants to enhance greenery and improve environment in the State by taking up programmes like Haritha Haram and on the other it claims that it does not need environmental clearance for demolition of Secretariat building.
In the backdrop of global warming, ensuring ecological balance is the government’s responsibility, it said.
The bench also asked Advocate General B.S. Prasad to clarify on preparation of the land. The Advocate General contended that demolition of building did not fall under preparation of land.
The bench directed the Advocate General if that was the government’s interpretation or if it was upheld by the National Green Tribunal, any High Court or the Supreme Court.
