MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT ANDFORESTS

NOTIFICAIiON

New Delhi, the 17th September, 2002

S.O. i«w(E).— 'In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sectio n (3) of secuon 3 of the

Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act),

the Central Government hereby constitutes an authority to be known as the Central

Empowered Committee, (hereinafter referred to as the Committee), consisting of the

following members appointed in pursuance of the Hon'blfa Supreme Court's orders

dated the 9^th May, 2002 and 9^th September 2002 in Writ Petitions (Civil) No. 202795 and

171/96, for a period of five years with effect from the date of publication of this

notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of monitoring and ensuring

compliance of the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court covering the subject matter of

forests and wildlife, and related issues arising out of the safd orders:-

(i)

Shri P.V.Jayakrishnan,

Chairman

.presently Secretary to the Government of

India, Ministry of Environment and Forests]

(ii)

Shri N.K.Joshi,

Member

[presently Additional Director General of

Forests,

Ministry

Environment

and

Forests]

(iii)

Shri

Valmik

Thapar,

Ranthamborfa

Member

Foundation

(iv)

Shri Mahendra Vyas, Advocate, Supreme

Mewnber

Court of India

(v)

Shri M.K. Jiwrajka,

Member Secretary

[presently Inspector General of Forests,

Ministry of Environment and Forests ]

2. The Committee shall exercise the following powers ar.d perform the following

functions :-

Powers and functions conferred, upon the Committee by the Hon'ble

Supreme Court of India by its order dated the 9^th May, 2002, in Writ

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA: EXTRAORDINARY

[PART U—SEC. 3(ii)]

Petitions (Civil) No. 202/95 and 171/96 in the case of T. N. Godavarman

Thirumalpad Vs. Union of India and others and Environment Awareness

Forum Vs. State of J and K and others, respectively, namely :-

(i)

to monitor the implementation of the Hon'ble Court's orders and

place reports of non-compliance before the Court including in

respect of fencroachments removals, working plans, compensatory

afforestation, plantations and other conservation issues;

(ii)

to examine pending interlocutory applications in the said writ

petitions (as may be referred to it by the Hon'ble Court) as well as

the reports and affidavits filed by the States in response to the

orders passed by the Hon'ble Court and place its recommendations

before the Hon'ble Court for orders;

(iii)

to hear applications filed by any aggrieved person seeking relief

against any action taken by the Government or any other authority

purportedly in compliance of the orders passed by the Hon'ble

Supreme Court or against any action of any person or body or

agency in violation of such orders, and to dispose of such

applications in conformity with the orders of the Hon'ble Court and

to refer to the Hon'ble Court any application which cannot be

appropriately disposed off;

(iv)

without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred upon the

Committee under the provisions of the said Act, for the purposes of

effective discharge of its functions, the Committee shall have the

powers to:

(a)

call for any documents from any person or the

government of the Union or the State or any other

official;

(b)

summon any person and receive evidence from such

person on oath either on affidavit or otherwise;

(c)

seek assistance or presence of any persons(s) or

official(s) required by it in relation to its work;

(d)

decide its own procedure for dealing with applications

and other issues;

(e) co-opt one or more persons as its members or as

special invitees for dealing with specific issues; and

(f) co-opt, wherever feasible, the Chief Secretary and

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of the State as

special invitees while dealing with issues pertaining to

that State.

II.

Powers under section 5 of the said Act, for issuing directions and taking

such measures in respect of any of matters referred to in sub-section (2)

of section 3 of the said Act;

III.

Powers to take resort to the provisions contained in sections 15 to 21 of

the said Act;

IV.

Powers under section 4 of the said Act, for appointment of officers.

Powers to issue guidelines and or directions with regard to

location,

functioning and monitoring of the saw mills and other wood based

industries and also regulate their numbers and capacity for ensuring

sustainability;

VI.

Functions and powers in respect of protection and management of forests

and wildlife including in respect of deforestation, encroachments, working

plans, compensatory afforestation, plantations, regeneration, illegal felling,

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA. EXTRAORDINARY

[PART II—SEC. 3(ii)]

transportation of timber and timber products and other forest produce,

mining in forest area, illegal diversion of forest lands for non-forest

purpose and other matters relating to the implementation of the Forest

(Conservation) Act, 1980, Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection)

Act, 1972 and the rules, regulations and guidelines framed thereunder;

VII.

Powers to examine and deal with any issue referred to the Committee by

the Hon'ble Supreme Court or the Central Government.

3. The members of the Committee are appointed in their personal capacity and shall

not be removed without leave of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Subject to the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the Committee shall function

under the administrative control of the Central Government in the Ministry of

Environment and Forests with headquarters at Delhi.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests shall provide suitable and adequate

office accommodation for the Committee. The expenditure incurred on the working of

the Committee including salary or remuneration to the members and supporting staff,

(to the extent not payable by the Government) may be met out of income accruing to

the Special Investigation Team (SIT). Necessary procedure for this may be formulated

by the Committee in consultation with the Special Investigation Team.

The jurisdiction of the Committee shall extend to the whole of India.

The Committee shall submit quarterly reports to the Hon'ble Supreme Court. It

will be liberty to seek clarifications or modifications needed by it from the Hon'ble Court.

[No. 13-21/98-SU-FT. II]

R. CHANDRA MOHAN, Jt. Secy.

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