HC asks state govt to call upon ADCs to preserve environment, water bodies

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 23, 2022

The Meghalaya High Court on Wednesday asked the state government to call upon the autonomous district councils (ADCs) to preserve the environment and the water bodies.

While hearing a PIL on cleaning of Umiam lake, the division bench said, “The state government should make every endeavour to call upon the autonomous councils to preserve the environment and ecology and take appropriate measures that check the desecration of land or wanton construction or any form of construction without obtaining clearance, and such clearance be issued upon scientific study as to the impact on the environment and the like.”

“It is imperative that the State calls upon all the autonomous District Councils to address the matter on an urgent basis to preserve the delicate ecology, the pristine environment and the purity of the water-bodies here,” it added.

A detailed status report was filed by the secretary to the state government in the Forest and Environment Department.

In view of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the autonomy granted to the District Councils, there is a limitation on the authority of the state per se to take up matters which pertain to the jurisdiction of the District Councils, including the use of land.

The Advocate General submitted that there is a Meghalaya Town and Country Planning Act, 1973 and the autonomous councils are obliged to frame rules thereunder to regulate land use, the purpose of use, future planning and the like.

The court said what may be happening here appears to be that the regulations may not have been put in place by some of the District Councils to preserve the land, particularly those around the various water-bodies in the State.

It is equally possible that regulations are in place but are not implemented in the right spirit, it further added.