Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh defended his decision to overrule the statutory and expert panel on forest clearances to give the nod to coal blocks in Hasdeo-Arand forests of Chattisgarh to the Adani joint venture company. The National Green Tribunal had made scathing comments on Tuesday against Mr Ramesh's role as the then Union Environment Minister in 2011 for clearing the coal blocks. The tribunal had cancelled the forest clearances and asked the government to take a relook at the projects.
“The reason for my doing so (overruling the expert panel to clear the coal blocks) were spelt out in detail in a 4-page speaking order made public immediately after I had taken the decision. Six specific reasons were given to reject the Forest Advisory Committee's recommendations,” Ramesh said.
The tribunal had come down hard on the erstwhile environment minister for overruling experts without any alternative considered and scientific review of the cases. It had also noted that the minister had taken a mere 24 hours to override the expert panel not even giving it a chance to comment on his views or differences. The court had also blamed the FAC for not going into important details of the possible impacts of the project on the ecology and environment of the region.
“The NGT makes much of the fact that my speaking order is dated June 23 2011 which is only one day after I received the final recommendation of the FAC. Perhaps it may not have occured to the NGT that as minister I could have been aware of what the FAC would recommend. Indeed I had encouraged it to take its own view on the proposals. While the FAC was carrying out its due diligence i was doing my own assessments enjoined upon me as minister,” he added.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said, "Raman Singh (Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh) and Gehlot (then Rajasthan Chief Minister ) wrote to me and met me alt least thrice to argue for the clearances.
The NGT also ordered that the Minister had been wrong in giving weight to “anthropocentric” considerations – the need for power generation, linkage to a super critical power plant and the lobbying by concerned states – while taking his decisions and not evaluating the ecological factors properly.
Ramesh, in response on Tuesday said, “After having been pilloried for not clearing projects, now I am being attacked for having cleared projects. I am being accused of being anthropocentric while in the past I was accused of being obsessed with trees, tigers, rivers, mangroves, coasts and mountains, apart from elephants hornbills and other species.”
He took a larger swipe saying, “It is not for me to challenge the wisdom of the NGT, a quasi-judicial body that I myself was entirely responsible for envisioning, navigating the legislation through Parliament and then getting it off the ground in every way.”
