ESZ boundary of 1 km will not apply to Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, clarifies Apex Court

LE Correspondent

New Delhi, September 24, 2022: While considering an interim application seeking clarification of an earlier order whereby restrictions were imposed on construction within the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of 1 km of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, the Supreme Court has come to the aid of the real estate development sector by passing an order clarifying that the ESZ boundary of 1 km fixed via the June Order will not apply to the Park as well as the Sanctuary.

This clarificatory order was passed on September 23, 2022, by the specially constituted Green Bench comprising Justice B. R. Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice J. B. Pardiwala. 

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association (CREDAI),  Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) had filed an Interim Application in Re: T. N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v Union of India & Ors  for clarification of the Apex Court’s order dated June 3, 2022 with respect to the Eco-Sensitive Zone around Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Thane Flamingo Creek Sanctuary (Flamingo Creek).

The DSK Legal team representing CREDAI-MCHI before the Supreme Court comprised Samit Shukla (Partner), Saloni Shah (Senior Associate), Shivani Khanwilkar (Senior Associate) and Mani Bhushan (Court Clerk).

In 2011, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC) had framed guidelines for declaration of ESZs around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. A notification was published for Sanjay Gandhi National Park on December 5, 2016, whereby the ESZ was set as 100m to 4km. 

The Supreme Court directed that an area of 10 kms around 21 National Parks / Wildlife Sanctuaries (including the Flamingo Creek) be declared as an ESZ. Pursuant to this Order, the final notification for Flamingo Creek was published on October 14, 2021 wherein the ESZ extent was set as 0 to 3.89 km.

In its June Order, the Supreme Court opined that the SGNP had urban activities in its close proximity and was a special case. The Court had also passed a direction  for a mandatory 1 km boundary to be fixed for each protected national park or wildlife sanctuary.

The Developers’ Association sought clarification on the final ESZ notification in respect of SGNP and Flamingo Sanctuary that were already published on December 5, 2016 and October 14, 2021. It was the Association’s case that while passing the June order these final notifications were inadvertently not brought to the notice of the Court and SGNP had been held as a special case by the Supreme Court itself in its June 2022 order.

Considering such arguments and aspects, the Bench passed an order clarifying that the ESZ boundaries of 1 km fixed by the Top Court via the June Order will not apply to SGNP and Flamingo Sanctuary.