NGT refuses to lift stay on forest force deployment for Assam polls
The NGT stayed the order following a plea by advocate Gaurav Bansal, who argued that diverting them from conservation duties violates the Biological Diversity Act.
A file image of National Green Tribunal in Delhi. (Photo: IANS)
NEW DELHI, April 9: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday said there were no grounds to recall or modify its April 2 order staying the Assam government's order seeking deployment of around 1,600 Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) personnel for the Assembly polls in the north-eastern State.
The NGT's eastern zonal bench in Kolkata had granted the stay on a plea filed by advocate Gaurav Bansal, claiming that by diverting the AFPF personnel from their primary duties of protection and conservation of biological resources for election and allied purposes, authorities have failed to discharge their statutory obligations under the Biological Diversity Act.
Following this, the State government sought vacation of the stay, arguing the petition had wrongly "stretched" the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, making it applicable to manpower deployment.
The green body earlier rejected the State government's argument about the AFPF personnel not being "forest staff".
Earlier, the tribunal said that, prima facie, the averments raised "substantial questions" relating to the environment and issued notices to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the state of Assam, the state's bio-diversity board and the National Biodiversity Authority.
- PTI