NEW DELHI: An Indian court on Friday temporarily suspended an order cancelling Greenpeace India’s operating licence in the country, the group said, the latest twist in its ongoing battle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Responding to a petition by Greenpeace, the Madras High Court halted the process to invalidate the environmental group’s registration after authorities in southern Tamil Nadu state cancelled its licence earlier this month.
Greenpeace lawyer Vineet Subramani said the judge had observed “prima facie, the government has not followed the principles of natural justice.”
“He was satisfied with our arguments and granted an unconditional stay on the government order,” Subramani told AFP. No confirmation was available from the court directly.
Greenpeace had claimed the order cancelling its only licence in the country was issued on behest of India’s Home Ministry, which has repeatedly declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
“We were confident the courts would agree that Greenpeace is on sound legal footing and has done nothing wrong, notwithstanding the government’s ridiculous allegations of fraud in this instance,” Priya Pillai of Greenpeace India said in a statement.
The NGO, which is at loggerheads with the Modi-led government, has won a string of court cases against Indian authorities this year.
New Delhi in April suspended Greenpeace’s foreign funding licence and froze its domestic bank accounts for alleged rule violations.
Greenpeace said the move could force it to shut down, but later succeeded in having the bank accounts unfrozen.
The group attributes the actions taken against it to its criticism of the government, which it accuses of causing environmental degradation by excessive use of coal power, deforestation and nuclear projects.
In recent months, Greenpeace has accused Indian authorities of placing its campaigners on suspicious persons list and barring their exit and entry into the country.
One of the group’s senior campaigners was offloaded from a flight to London, where she was scheduled to address British MPs.
Modi’s nationalist government has cancelled the foreign funding licences of around 9,000 charities since a major crackdown began in April and placed the US-based Ford Foundation and Christian charity Caritas on a watch list.
Indian media have reported on a secret intelligence document that apparently warned delays to key development projects sought by Greenpeace and other groups could knock three percentage points off India’s annual growth rate.
Greenpeace India’s shutdown halted temporarily, group says
Greenpeace India’s shutdown halted temporarily, group says
Chile wildfires leave 19 dead amid extreme heat as scores evacuated
- Fast-moving wildfires being worsened by intense heat, winds
- Firefighters battling 23 active blazes spreading toward cities
CONCEPCION, Chile: Wildfires in Chile have left at least 19 people dead, authorities said on Monday, as the government carried out mass evacuations and fought nearly two dozen blazes exacerbated by intense heat and high winds.
While weather conditions overnight helped control some fires, the largest were still active, with adverse conditions expected throughout the day, security minister, Luis Cordero, said at a news briefing on Monday.
“The projection we have today is of high temperatures,” Cordero said, and the main worry was that new fires would be triggered throughout the region.
Parts of central and southern Chile were under extreme heat warnings with temperatures expected to reach up to 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).
STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN NUBLE, BIO BIO
As of late Sunday, Chile’s CONAF forestry agency said firefighters were combating 23 fires across the country, the largest of which were in regions of Ñuble and Bío Bío, where President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe.
Over 20,000 hectares (77 square miles) have been razed so far, an area about the size of Seattle, with the largest fire surpassing 14,000 hectares on the outskirts of the coastal city Concepcion.
The fast-moving blaze tore through the towns of Penco and Lirquen over the weekend, destroying hundreds of homes and killing several people, with authorities still assessing the damage.
HEAT, BLAZES ALSO IMPACT ARGENTINA
Authorities are currently battling the fire as it threatened Manzano prison on the edge of Concepcion and the town of Tome to the north.
Both Chile and Argentina rang in the new year with heat waves which have continued into January. Earlier this month, wildfires broke out in Argentina’s Patagonia, burning around 15,000 hectares.
