NGT sets December 31 deadline to ready coastal plan for Goa
On 28 September, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) granted state time to conclude the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) until 31 December. By 31 January 2021, the State had been ordered to conclude public hearings. The State had previously submitted a request for the time needed to complete the plan until 10 March 2021. It claimed the planning work was delayed by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the NGT also instructed the Ministry for Forestry and Climate Change Environment (MoEFCC) to interfere and find feasible ways of accelerating the CZMP’s preparations with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai.
Also, the application stated that ‘because local entities had expressed a desire to know what CZMP was,’ field visits were arranged by settlement officers and the land records to clarify them, and to determine the features of the plan, as provided for in CRZ Notification 2011.
Furthermore, Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act requiring local authorities to prepare their own CZMP plans so that they can forward them to NCSCM was released by the State. It was one of the local authorities’ demands that their own draught CZMP must be prepared. However, the government reported that it was prepared and forwarded to NCSCM by all local bodies.
Kerala: CBI questions officials over FCRA violations
Two more officials linked with the life mission housing project were interrogated by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Kochi. Previously the agency had interrogated and recorded the statements of the Thrissur district coordinator of Life Mission and Wadakkanchery Municipal Secretary.
Furthermore, the CEO of the Life mission has been also asked several questions by the CBI team handling the case on October 5, 2020, and the legal notice for this interrogation has been sent to him earlier. In the interrogation, the CEO of the Life mission Mr. U.V. Jose was asked to provide all the legal documents related to the project.
It has been stated that the project has somehow violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) ACT commonly known as FCRA. It has been also stated by the CBI team investigating this case that funds from UAE Red Crescent were directly received by the contractors and builders.
Supreme Court lens on land acquisition case again
Recently, the Supreme Court has sought to reopen the issue of the time period for paying the compensation of the landowners. A bench of the Chief Justice of India and other senior Justice stated that the land acquisition would gradually get lapsed in the case when the government had neither has received any possession nor paid any compensation to the landowners. Moreover, it was also stated that the acquisition would not get lapsed in the case when the possession had been taken the possession but not aid the compensation.
Furthermore, on March 6, 2020, it was confirmed by a bench of senior justices of the Supreme court of India that the process only gets lapsed when the possession has not taken and also no compensation has been paid.
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