Telangana High Court moved over lack of appellate panel at PCB

Hyderabad: A representation is submitted to the High Court against the clearance by TSPCB (Telangana State Pollution Control Board) for the construction of new Secretariat complex.

In an appeal to the court, the activists say that in order to appeal anything against the clearance certificate issued by TSPCB, there should be an appellate authority, but unfortunately, there is no such body to reach out to. It was intentionally not provided for to pave clearance for the Secretariat, the activists alleged.

"As we could not find Appellate Authority details on TSPCB website, upon some research we find that the Appellate Authority's members' term of two years expired in May 2017 and Appellate Authority has not been re-constituted till date. This implies that no appeal could be made against the CFEs issued by the TSPCB from May 2017 onwards.Thus, the scope of crucial judicial remedial intervention wherever necessary was deliberately kept defunct by the state government and blocked. This leads to the question of the validity of all the CFEs issued after May 2017 as the provision to question the CFEs as mandated under the Water Act 1974 was not fulfilled," said LubnaSarvath, Social Activist.

It was imperative on the TSPCB that they could have appealed to the NGT or at the High Court for complying with the Act for constituting the Appellate Authority. But the TSPCB continued to issue orders without the statutory body in place.

"How could it issue Consent for Establishment orders with the clause of Appeal to Appellate Authority against the order, when it knew that Appellate Authority was not there. This is a deliberate deceitful statement in every CFE since May 2017 issued by the TSPCB," it is pointed out.