Srinagar: The Division Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court comprising of Hon’ble Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed & Justice Alok Aradhe passed a status quo order which will go a long way in protecting the Wetlands & other water bodies of the State.
Hearing a CMP on Monday in a Public Interest litigation on 2014- Floods filed by an Enviro-Social Think Tank and a Non-profit Organisation(NPO) Environmental Policy Group (EPG), The Divisional Bench issued a status quo order on Governments plans to earth-fill 1600 Kanals of Narakara Wetland at Peerbagh, Srinagar to pave way for setting up IIM, Convenor EPG faiz bakshi said in a statement.
The Chief Justice, according to statement , questioned ‘if there were no other sites available to Government than to earth fill a Wetland when the efforts should be to protect them’.
It may be recalled that the Government of India had sanctioned two IIM’s( one each to Jammu & Kashmir Provinces) and the Government decided to build Kashmir one in the Narakara Wetland for which 1600 Kanals were earmarked.
This decision of the Government was raised by EPG before the Hon’ble High Court.
The Government Advocate pleaded that Narakara Wetland was actually “Banjar-I-qadeem” which means non-revenue land from revenue point of view. The Chief Justice ‘advised the Officers (Who also are citizens) to show some concern for the bounties the Nature had bestowed in abundance.’
“The Hon’ble Court also ordered the forest & environment department to immediately prepare KMZ file of forest & wildlife areas to ensure their protection , submit the same to the Court & put that on the website.The Commissioner/Secretary Forest & Environment has been required to be present in Court on 24th of October,” statement routing Bakshi said.
The Court, statement reads, also expressed its displeasure over lack of response by various Government Departments in responding to the serious issues that needed urgent attention post-2014 floods.
Environmental Lawyer Advocate Nadeem Qadri represented EPG before the Justices of the Division Bench.
The next date of hearing is fixed for 24-10-2017.
