Sridevi Datla v. Union of India
Background
The Ministry of Environment granted environmental clearance for a new Greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram, Visakhapatnam, on 14 August 2017. The appellant, an affected local resident, filed an appeal before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 13 November 2017, along with an application to condone the delay, explaining that the voluminous technical clearance papers had to be sent to experts and lawyers in Delhi. The NGT rejected the delay-condonation application and, consequently, dismissed her appeal as time-barred.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that while the general Limitation Act does not apply to appeals under Section 16 of the NGT Act (which has its own 30-day period extendable by 60 days), Section 10 of the General Clauses Act does apply, so a deadline falling on a holiday is automatically extended to the next working day. More importantly, the Court found the NGT's refusal to condone the delay was an erroneous, overly narrow exercise of discretion: the appellant's explanation (needing time to get technical and legal advice on voluminous clearance documents) amounted to sufficient cause, and nothing in the NGT Act bars a directly affected person from access to the tribunal merely because she also has other disputes (e.g., over land acquisition) with the project. The Court set aside the NGT's order, condoned the delay, and directed the NGT to hear the appeal on merits.
Lesson Learnt
Delay in approaching an environmental tribunal should be judged liberally where the explanation is bona fide and the subject matter (here, an environmental clearance with potentially irreversible impact) is serious: technical complexity and the practical need to consult experts can themselves constitute "sufficient cause" for condonation.