Karnataka High Court quashes NCLT order allowing windmills to operate on forest land

Karnataka High Court quashes NCLT order allowing windmills to operate on forest land

The state government had suspended the functioning in May 2022

The Karnataka High Court has quashed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order allowing the operation of windmills on forest land.

A bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said in its judgment that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the matter of setting aside a government order.

The court ruled, "The company could not have knocked at the doors of the tribunal as it completely falls beyond the purview of the Code, being in the realm of public law, since the State has exercised its jurisdiction in drawing up the proceedings and directing forest clearances to be submitted by the corporate debtor, the petitioner, in the exercise of powers conferred under the statute. Therefore, they are in the realm of public law."

The chief conservator of forests and other senior officers of the forest department had approached the court against the NCLT, Ahmedabad Division Bench's order in favor of a Mumbai-based company, Wind World India Limited.

Justice Nagaprasanna thus held that the tribunal could not allow the functioning merely because the state had earlier granted the permission.