Supreme Court sees red over green, sends Minister to jail

Maharashtra Minister Swarupsinh Naik tried every trick up his sleeve, from a plea of lack of education to his Scheduled Tribe ‘background’ and even an apology...

Maharashtra Minister Swarupsinh Naik tried every trick up his sleeve, from a plea of lack of education to his Scheduled Tribe ‘background’ and even an apology, to escape the Supreme Court’s wrath for violating its orders.

But the court today sentenced Naik, then environment minister and now in charge of transport, and Ashok Khot, then principal secretary, environment and now additional chief secretary, to one month simple imprisonment. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia found them guilty of contempt of court for letting six sawmills operate near Tansa sanctuary despite SC orders to the contrary.

‘‘This is a case where not only right from the beginning, attempt has been made to overreach the orders of this Court, but also to draw red-herrings. In this case the contemnors deserve servere punishment. This will set an example for those who have the propensity of disregarding the court’s orders because of their money power, social status or posts held,’’ the bench ruled.

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First, the accused allowed six saw-mills to operate in the vicinity of the sanctuary in Thane in violation of two orders by the Supreme Court. Then, they tampered with evidence in a desperate bid to cover up their favouritism.

When the licence was granted for operating the saw mills, Naik was minister for environment and forest and Khot, principal secretary (forests).

In 1997, the Supreme Court had directed the closure of all unliscenced saw mills in Maharashtra. It reiterated the order in 2002 and said no such mill could operate with the permission of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The State went ahead and gave permission to six mills pleading that the mills were importing timber and hence could be given an NOC.

The CEC raised strong objections to the mills and ordered that they be closed immediately. The State said it would comply with the orders. However, when the Ministry of Environment and Forests raided one of the units in 2004, it was found to be operational. In fact, the records show that it had never been shut since 1997.

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In spite of clear orders, Naik and Khot, the court found, were instrumental in granting them permission to re-open ‘‘in direct contravention of the orders of the court.’’

When complaints started piling up and the Supreme Court began taking a strict view, the accused began the cover-up, forcing the amicus curiae to frame contempt charges in February this year.

Khot over-ruled his deputy secretary who said that permission to these saw mills could not be given. He inserted a hand-written note in Marathi in the original record to reduce the impact of his out-of-line permission. When the matter came up before the CEC, it was found that the note was not in the original file. The chief secretary investigated and told the court that it had been inserted later.

The petition in the CEC was filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group.

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Khot defended himself by saying that he wrote the note ‘‘inadvertently’’ on a sperate sheet of paper as a brief to the lawyer.

The minister tampered with the minutes of a report the high-powered committee submitted to the court. An entire paragraph was deleted which said that the committee had recommended that the mills could not be re-opened.

When asked, he said he was only educated till secondary-school level and belonged to a Schedule Tribe.

‘‘Owing to my background and the level of educational qualification, it was not feasible for me to arrive at an appropriate decision unilaterally without being assisted by responsible officers,’’ he said in his affidavit pointing to the fact that he was relying on the high-powered committee.

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He later pleaded that it was due to ‘‘wrong typing of pages and preparation of draft by learned counsel.’’

They have been charged for wilful disobedience of directions issued by the Supreme Court, lowering the authority of the court and obstructing the administration of justice.

The court also refused to accept their apology. ‘‘If the apology is offered at a time when the contemnor finds that the court is going to impose punishment, it ceases to be an apology and becomes and act of a cringing coward,’’ says the 35-page judgement.

WHAT THEY DID
Allowed six sawmills to operate near a sanctuary in violation
of two orders by the Supreme Court.

THE COVER-UP

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• Khot inserted a hand-written note in Marathi in the original record to reduce the impact of his out-of-line permission.

• Minister Naik tampered with the minutes of a high-powered committee report to the court. An entire paragraph—which said that the committee had recommended that the mills could not be re-opened—was deleted.

THE EXCUSE

• Khot said he wrote the note ‘‘inadvertently’’ as a brief to the lawyer.

• The minister blamed it on his ‘‘ST background and the level of educational qualification.’’ He later pleaded that it was due to ‘‘wrong typing of pages.’’

sonu.jain@expressindia.com