CENTRAL
EMPOWERED COMMITTEE
CONSTITUTED BY
THE HON’BLE SUPREME COURT OF
IN WRIT PETITIONS NO. 202/95 AND
171/96
No. 1-1/CEC/2002-03 Date : 14.6.2002
Notification
No.
2
DATED:
RULES AND PROCEDURE
Applications
1. Any individual shall be
at liberty to move the Central Empowered Committee, hereinafter referred to as
the Committee, by filing an application for seeking suitable relief against any
action taken by the Central / State
Governments or any other authority
(a) in respect of deforestation,
encroachments, working of the wood based industries, Working Plans,
compensatory afforestation, plantations, regeneration, illegal felling
and transportation of timber, illegal mining in forest area, and any other
conservation issues; and
(b) the
implementation of the
2.
All applications should be addressed to:
The Member Secretary
Central Empowered Committee
Constituted by the Hon’ble
Supreme Court of
Room No.106, Paryavaran Bhawan, C.G.O. Complex
3. Every application shall
set out the name, description and complete postal address of the applicant(s) and the respondent(s). It
should be typed in double space on a full-scap (legal size paper) and shall set forth
in chronological order and in consecutively numbered paragraphs, all relevant
facts, grounds and relief claimed and shall be signed by the applicant or his
Advocate.
4. Six copies of the
application shall be filed and it shall be accompanied by copies of such
documents as are in the
possession of the applicant and shall be supported by a duly attested affidavit
of the applicant and all pages of the application shall be numbered.
5. A copy of the
application shall be sent by the applicant to all the respondents and photocopy
of postal or courier
receipt as proof of the same shall be filed along with the application.
6. Every application shall
have an index.
Proceedings:
7. After receipt of the
application, as soon as it is feasible, a notice of hearing shall be issued to
all the parties through counsel, Central Government, State Governments or any
other authority, electronic mode, or through any other means. The notice shall
specify the date and place of hearing before the Committee.
8. Where there are a
number of applications in which common issues have been raised and similar reliefs are sought, the Committee may issue notice to all
parties or through public notice/advertisement. The Committee in such cases may
determine as to who shall bear the cost of such publication.
9. The respondents shall
be at a liberty to file written objections to the application in the form of a
counter affidavit with proof of service of advance copy to the applicant. The
counter affidavit shall give a parawise reply on
merits and no general replies or denials would be entertained. In cases where
the respondent(s) is an office of the Central Government, the State Government,
Government Undertaking or any authority owned, managed or controlled by the
Central / State Government, the counter affidavit, shall be signed by the Head
of the Department, Authority or the Undertaking.
10. The Committee shall have
the powers to:
(a) Call for any documents from any person or
the Government of the
(b) Summon any person and receive evidence
from such person on oath either on affidavit or otherwise;
(c) Seek assistance / presence of any person(s)
/ official(s) required by it in relation to its work.
11. A quorum comprising
minimum of three members will be competent to hear applications and pass
orders.
12. The Committee may
undertake field visits, public hearings, meeting with officials and NGO’s
through one or more of its members
or Special Invitees or through such Central Government / State Government
officials, institutions, experts, NGO’s and others.
13. The Committee may pass
interim order(s) so as to meet the ends of justice, which shall operate for a period of 90 days from the date of the
issue of the order by which time the application shall be finally adjudicated.
However, if no final order(s) is passed within 90 days, the interim order shall
cease to operate unless extended by the Committee for reasons to be recorded in
writing.
14. The Committee shall pass
appropriate orders in writing after giving opportunity of hearing the parties.
15. The orders passed by the
Committee shall be in conformity with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. In other cases, the
Committee shall place its recommendations before the Hon’ble
Supreme Court of India for passing appropriate clarifications or orders.
16. The Committee shall
submit Quarterly Progress Reports to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
17. All orders passed by the
Committee shall be authenticated by the Member Secretary and bear the seal of
the Committee.
18. In respect of the I. A.’s, reports and affidavits referred to the Committee by
the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Committee
will follow the procedure as stated above.
(M.K.Jiwrajka)
Member Secretary
Distribution:
1. Registrar,
Supreme Court ( attention PIL Cell).
2. Attorney General of
3. Solicitor General of
4. Shri P. V.Jayakrishnan,
Chairman Central Empowered Committee.
5. Shri N. K.Joshi,
Additional Director General of Forests, Ministry of Environment & Forests
& Member, Central Empowered Committee.
6. Shri Valmik
Thapar, – Member Central Empowered Committee.
7. Shri Mahendra
Vyas, – Member Central Empowered Committee.
8. PS to MEF.
9. Secretary,
Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of
10. Director General of Forests & Special Secretary, MOEF.
11. Chairman High Power Committee for the North-Eastern Region.
12. Chairman Special Investigation Team.
13. All
officers of DIG and above level, MoEF.
14.
Regional Chief Conservators of Forests, MoEF (all).
15. Secretaries
to Government of India (all ministries).
16. Administrators
/ Chief Secretaries (all States / UTs).
17. Principal Chief Conservators of Forests, (all States/ UTs).
18. Secretaries
(Forests) (all States / UTs).
This Notification should be given wide
publicity & circulated to all concerned.
(M.K.Jiwrajka)
Member Secretary