NGT should test credentials of applicants before passing orders having far-reaching effect: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court in the case State of Uttar Pradesh vs Uday Education and Welfare Trust observed that the National Green Tribunal should test the bonafides and credentials of applicants before permitting the applicant to seek orders which have far reaching effects.
The bench comprising of Justice BR Gavai and the Justice BV Nagarathna observed and stated that before a litigant is permitted to knock the doors of justice and seek orders which have far reaching effects of affecting the employment of thousands of persons and is stopping the investment in the State, the credentials, prejudicing the interest of the farmers and the bonafides of the applicants must be tested.
It was observed by the bench while setting aside the orders of NGT, wherein quashing the notice issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh for establishing new wood-based industries.
In this case, the court noted that the applicants before NGT were (1) Welfare Trust and Uday Education (2) the Samvit Foundation and (3) the U.P. Timber Association
It was noted by the court that the U.P. Timber Association was a litigant in the case interested in the litigation.
In the present case, the bench observed that there is scope to infer that the litigation could be at the behest of the existing WBIs who wanted to avoid competition and continue for getting raw material at a cheaper rate. Also, there being a scope to infer that it could be at the behest of the WBIs in the adjoining Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana where lakhs of tons of timber is being exported from the State of Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, there is a scope to infer that it could be in the interest of middlemen who are engaged in exporting timber from Uttar Pradesh to Haryana. Therefore, the court only requested the learned NGT that, when credentials and bonafides of such litigants are seriously raised and when entertaining the grievance of such litigants, the same is likely to adversely affect the rights of many and it should ensure the credentials and bonafides of such litigants.