SC to decide next week on granting exemption to Army

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) The Supreme Court will decide next week whether to grant exemption to the Indian Army from paying Rs 1400 crores for continuing its artillery training programme in 92 Field Firing Ranges spread all over the country.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishna and Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia decided to hear the application next week after the counsel for Ministry of Defence submitted that army training programmes were being held up because the Army doesn't have Rs 1400 crores towards compensatory allowances for afforestation.

The Ministry of Defence, however, made it clear that the Army was not running away and it will pay the amount if the Court finally decides that the Army is liable.

The Army has already paid Rs 20 crores towards charges and is doing lot of afforestation work in the Field Firing Ranges. The counsel also submitted that out of 92 ranges which include an INA range in Dehradun, 52 Field Firing Ranges have already been closed down due to shortage of funds.

The Court directed the Union Ministry of Environment to be ready with its response on the issue during the hearing of the application next week. The Court however fixed August 20 for hearing of other forest related matters. Centrally Empowered Committee(CEC) has beeen opposing army training programmes in Field Firing Ranges. In all, there are eight kinds of forest in the country and they had been categorised on the basis of their density.

UNI