Lawyer Ritwick Dutta represented Aravalli movement, criticised govt policy: CBI
CBI has booked Dutta for receiving foreign contributions from American NGO Earthjustice, which funds legal professionals to litigate against coal projects
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s first information report (FIR) document against environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) refers to his involvement “in criticising government policy” and “agitating” farmers against “industrialist and industrial policy of the government.”
It says one of Dutta’s clients, Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement, a Gurugram-based group formed to protect the Aravallis, “appears to be engaged in protests.”
The CBI has also accused Dutta and American NGO Earthjustice of planning to target Indian entities undertaking projects abroad.
The FIR cites a 2017 email from Earthjustice’s Martin Wagner to the lawyer and said they discussed projects of Indian entities that can be challenged in foreign jurisdictions.
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“They mentioned the example of activities of Adani in Australia. It appears from this that they were planning to target Indian entities undertaking projects outside India.”
The FIR says such litigations lead to delays in projects and impact public interest by denying energy security to citizens of the nation. “Further, it is also impacting the economic interests of [the] nation outside [the] geographical boundaries of India.”
The Adani Group was in the news in 2017 over protests against its coal mining project in Australia’s Queensland.
The CBI’s main contention is that Dutta received ₹41 lakh in foreign contributions in 2013-14 from Earthjustice, which, the agency said, funds legal professionals to litigate against coal projects. He then created Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) proprietorship which subsequently received ₹22 crore from the NGO from 2016 to 2021 as “professional receipts.”
The FIR says funds continued to flow from the NGO to Dutta with the objective to litigate.
The 40-page FIR with annexures, seen by HT, also raises questions about Dutta’s critique of the government’s environmental policy.
“...As per information available in [the] public domain, it appears...Dutta is involved in criticizing government policy and making allegation[s] against [the] government of India through public media. He appears to be involved in agitating local farmer[s] against industrialist and industrial policy of the government.”
The FIR cites information available in the public domain and says Kheti Vikas Seva Trust, a farmers’ body, was involved in filing public interest litigation against the Gujarat government and Adani Enterprises Limited.
The Kheti Vikas Seva Trust Vs Adani Enterprises Limited case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) deals with alleged irregularities related to the grant of environment clearance in 2020 to the copper smelter project. The project was partly coming up on forest land which was also challenged by the farmers’ body, according to their petition in NGT.
"LIFE has never been a litigant in any case. I am only a lawyer, not a litigant. I have never represented in the Kheti Vikas Seva Trust case, and I have not visited the site of the copper smelter project. Coal litigations accounts for less than 5 % of the cases I have handled," Ritwick Dutta, the environmental lawyer who also represented Odisha’s Dongria Kondh tribe in opposing Vedanta’s proposal for bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills, said over the phone responding to accusations.
In the Vedanta case, the Supreme Court held in 2013 that the local village council has the to determine whether the proposed project would affect individual or community rights. It said the council’s nod is mandatory before the mining process in Niyamgiri hills can proceed.
The FIR says Dutta was not providing consultancy services to Earthjustice but only updating it on the status of litigation related to thermal power plants. It adds Earthjustice was continuously following up on the litigation cases related to coal in India. “Most of the litigation matters...Dutta handles are...related to coal excavation, mines, and coal plants.”