The National Green Tribunal has directed the Himachal Pradesh chief secretary to ensure that the principal secretary, town and country planning, appears at the next hearing in a case examining environmental damage linked to the state’s devastating monsoon season. The tribunal warned that the chief secretary will have to join the proceedings virtually if the official fails to attend.
NGT chairperson Prakash Shrivastava issued the direction after the principal secretary did not appear virtually despite being ordered to do so. The tribunal noted that no application had been filed explaining any difficulty in attending the proceedings and described the absence as an apparent non-compliance with its earlier order.
The next hearing is scheduled for January 22, 2027. A copy of the latest direction has been forwarded to the Himachal Pradesh chief secretary for necessary compliance. The order places direct administrative responsibility on the state’s top bureaucrat to secure the appearance of the town and country planning department’s principal secretary.
The proceedings date back to December 2023, when the NGT took suo motu cognisance of environmental concerns following Himachal Pradesh’s severe monsoon season. River flooding and landslides caused extensive damage to life and property across the state. Reports before the tribunal attributed the scale of the damage to factors including deforestation, unplanned construction and illegal mining along riverbeds.
In its initial order on December 20, 2023, the tribunal recorded that the state government had attributed the damage to heavy rainfall. It also observed that a report submitted on behalf of the state government did not demonstrate effective steps to prevent illegal deforestation and mining.
The tribunal further noted that units involved in illegal mining had been identified and their operations suspended, but environmental compensation had not been imposed on the violators under the polluter-pays principle. It also recorded the absence of punitive or preventive action under relevant environmental and pollution-control laws.
The case therefore involves more than the attendance of a senior official. The respondents include the Himachal Pradesh government through the chief secretary, the state pollution control board, the principal secretaries for town and country planning and forest and environment, and the director of industries. Their inclusion reflects the range of departments involved in land-use regulation, environmental protection, mining oversight and disaster-related accountability.
For towns and settlements in Himachal Pradesh, the proceedings have a direct planning dimension. The tribunal’s earlier observations connect the disaster-related environmental concerns with construction patterns, deforestation and activity along riverbeds. The town and country planning department’s participation is consequently central to the case’s examination of how development is regulated in vulnerable terrain.
The NGT’s latest direction does not determine the final responsibility for the monsoon damage. It requires compliance with the tribunal’s hearing process and brings the chief secretary into the mechanism for ensuring the attendance of the concerned principal secretary. The next substantive development is expected at the hearing scheduled for January 22, 2027.
