NGT upholds CRZ cancellation of Rajakkamangalam harbour

Bench also takes note of suppression of material facts by the appellant

The private fishing harbour project in Kanniyakumari district is said to pose a threat to the naturally formed sand dunes along the sea coast in Rajakkamangalam panchayat.

The southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal dismissed an appeal by the Rajakkamangalam Thurai Fishing Harbour Pvt Ltd that challenged the cancellation of the CRZ clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF & CC).

The Bench comprising Justice M.S. Nambiar and expert member P.S. Rao refused to overturn the MoEF decision to cancel the CRZ clearance on the grounds that the proposed project area was a turtle nesting area and there were sand dunes, bringing it under CRZ I-A, and hence “no clearance could/would have been granted.”

The Bench, in its 78 page judgment, also took note of suppression of material facts by the appellant, based on which the MoEF had initially granted the CRZ clearance.

The MoEF, in 2015, cancelled the CRZ clearance after it found that the company had got the clearance by submitting a “false statement” of District Forest Officer, Nagercoil, that said there were no sand dunes on the Rajakkamangalam coast.

“The existence of sand dunes in the project area, which was suppressed in the proforma submitted by the appellant, for clearance and terming them as sand heaps or dune vegetation is material suppression,” the Bench said.

The appellant also did not specifically mention the existence of turtle nesting area in the project site, the Bench observed.

The Bench also referred to a notification of the Tamil Nadu government that identified 18 locations in Kanyakumari district that were potential turtle nesting sites, of which Rajakkamangalamthurai was one.

“Hence, when it is a turtle nesting area, definitely, the area would come under CRZ I-A of CRZ Notification 2011 under para 7(1)(g). If that be so, this fact is an additional ground to support the cancellation of CRZ clearance granted to the appellant,” the Bench said.

The authority which grants the clearance always has the power to cancel it. The Bench also observed that when sand dunes were present not only in one section but also in the area between the sea and other sections, “there cannot be a fishing harbour without causing irreparable damage to the sand dunes, which lie between the project area and the sea”.