A Division Bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna, allowing an appeal filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh, advised and requested the National Green Tribunal to ensure the bonafide and credentials of litigants coming before it.

The Court held that the order passed by a court or tribunals has far-reaching consequences, therefore, when a litigant approaches a court and knocks on the door of justice, the courts are duty-bound to test their credentials. 

Considering the seriousness of the issue, the court held that "We find 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, stopping investment in the State, prejudicing the interests of the farmers; the credentials and bonafides of the applicants must be tested. In the present case, there is scope to infer that the litigation could be at the behest of the existing WBIs who wanted to avoid competition and continue to get raw material at a cheaper rate. There is also 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 exported from the State of Uttar Pradesh. There is scope to infer that it could be in the interest of middlemen who are engaged in exporting timber from Uttar Pradesh to Haryana. We would, therefore, only request the learned NGT that, when credentials and bonafides of such litigants are seriously raised and when entertaining the grievance of such litigants, which is likely to adversely affect the rights of many, it should ensure the bonafides and credentials of such litigants."

The order of the Supreme Court has come in appeals challenging the order dated 18th February 2020, passed by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi in Original Application Nos.313, 335 and 396 of 2019, thereby quashing and setting aside the notice dated 1st March 2019 issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh for establishing new wood based industries and also setting aside all the provisional licenses given in pursuance thereof.

Case Details:-

CIVIL APPEAL NOS.2407-2412 OF 2021
THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ORS. ETC. ETC. …APPELLANT (S)
VERSUS
UDAY EDUCATION AND WELFARE TRUST AND ANR. ETC. ETC. …RESPONDENT(S)

Read the complete judgment on the following link:-

https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2021/11076/11076_2021_11_1501_39200_Judgement_21-Oct-2022.pdf