The National Green Tribunal has dismissed an appeal challenging the grant of forest clearance for diversion of forest land, holding that it was filed beyond the statutorily prescribed limitation period and could not be entertained.
A Bench comprising Chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, along with Expert Members Dr. A. Senthil Vel and Dr. Afroz Ahmad, refused to condone a delay of 259 days in filing the appeal against approvals granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on May 9, 2025.
The appellant had contended that limitation should be computed from December 2025, when the alleged deforestation activity came to light and the permissions entered the public domain. It was argued that the appeal was filed promptly thereafter.
Rejecting this submission, the Tribunal held that under Section 16 of the NGT Act, limitation begins from the date of communication of the order, which includes placing the order in the public domain. It noted that the impugned approval was uploaded on the Ministry’s website on the very same day it was issued, i.e., May 9, 2025.
The Bench reiterated that the statutory scheme provides a limitation period of 30 days, extendable by a further 60 days, and that the Tribunal loses jurisdiction to condone delay beyond 90 days. It emphasised that the language of the provision is clear and mandatory, leaving no scope for extending the limitation period on equitable grounds.
Holding that the appeal was filed well beyond the permissible period even after excluding time spent in earlier proceedings, the Tribunal declined to condone the delay.
Accordingly, the application for condonation of delay was rejected, and the appeal was dismissed.
Appearances:
For the Appellant: Appellant: Mr. Siddharth R. Gupta, Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, Mr. Shantanu Sharma, Mr. Aman Agarwal, Mr. Uddairh Palya, Ms. Aastha Singh & Ms. Surbhi Saxena, Advs.
For the Respondents: Mr. N.S. Nadkarni, Senior Advocate with Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Mr. Arshit Anand, Ms. Geetika Sharma & Ms. Parmita Mishra, Advs. for R – 7
