National Green Tribunal
Ishika vs Govt. Of Nct Of Delhi on 30 August, 2022
Author: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Item No. 01 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
(By Video Conferencing)
Original Application No. 562/2022
Ishika Applicant
Versus
Govt. of NCT of Delhi Respondent
Date of hearing: 30.08.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE PROF. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
ORDER
1. Grievance in this application is against pollution of River Yamuna. The applicant has inter-alia relied upon media report in Times of India dated 17.01.2022 titled "Delhi: Yamuna dirtier than it was 3 months ago". The report mentions that the pollution in Yamuna has worsened with the faecal bacteria level being at a record high of 14 times than what existed three months ago. This has been revealed by the December 2021 water quality status report by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). When the river enters the city, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and faecal coliform are within the permissible limits. However, by the time it exits Delhi, high-level effluents make Yamuna more polluted. While the faecal coliform level at the entry was 1,400 MPN/100ml (against the maximum limit of 2500 MPN/100ml), the level at the exit was 2,800 times higher than the desired limits and 580 times higher than the maximum permissible limits. At Asgarpur, which is the confluence of 1 Shahdara and Tughlaqabad drains, the faecal level in December was 14,00,000 MPN/100 ml against 4,90,000 in November and 94,000 units in October. The DO level at Palla station was 14mg/l, while at Asgarpur it was nil against the minimum requirement of 5mg/l. The BOD at the entry was 2.5 mg/l and 77 units at the exit against the maximum limit of 3 mg/l.
"Delhi has many areas that don't have a proper sewer network. Over 20% of the population is yet to get a proper sewer network. Moreover, over 80% of the sewage treatment plants (STP) don't meet the standards," said a DPCC official. Experts stated that faecal levels were high due to poor sewage treatment and low ambient temperatures. The higher the level of faecal coliform, the higher the presence of disease-causing pathogens in the water. DO depicts the presence of life, while BOD is the minimum oxygen required by the river to break and manage organic matter. The analysis by DPCC's Water Laboratory showed there were 41 STPs of Delhi Jal Board of which 35 were operational. However, only eight were complying with the prescribed standards. Sewage generation from 22 major drains was 3,273 million litres a day (MLD), while the installed treatment capacity of STPs was 2,715 MLD. But only 2,182 MLD sewage was being actually treated.
2. It may be noted that the issue of pollution of Yamuna was dealt with by the Hon'ble Supreme Court for about 23 years in W.P. No. 725/19941 from 1994 to 2017 and vide order dated 24.04.2017, the matter was transferred to this Tribunal for further proceedings. The Tribunal took up the matter along-with OA No. 06 of 2012, Manoj Mishra vs. Union of India & Ors. wherein the Tribunal had already passed order dated 13.01.2015 (2015 SCC Online NGT 840), followed by further orders dated 08.05.2015 1 News Item "Hindustan Times" AQFM Yamuna v. Central Pollution Control Board & Anr.2
(2015 SCC Online NGT 841) and 07.12.2017 in OA 65 of 20162 and OA 76 of 20163.
3. On 25.07.2018, the proceedings were comprehensively reviewed and in continued hearing vide order dated 26.07.2018, a two Member Yamuna Monitoring Committee (YMC) was constituted comprising of a former Chief Secretary, Delhi and a former Member of this Tribunal to monitor progress closely by identified road map. The Committee prepared an action plan dated 20.10.2018 identifying road map for rejuvenation of Yamuna with following 16 action points:
"
i. Environmental Flow ii. DDA, Demarcation of the Flood Plains and Conservation Activities iii. Quality of River water iv. Sewage Treatment Plants v. Interceptor Sewer Project (ISP) vi. Repair and maintenance of Drains vii. Polluter Pays principle viii. Dredging and desilting ix. Industrial Pollution and CETPs x. Sewage and Faecal Sludge Management xi. Online Monitoring of STPs, CETPs and Yamuna.
xii. Use of treated Waste Water
xiii. Idol Immersion
xiv. State of Haryana and pollution of the Yamuna
xv. State of Uttar Pradesh and Pollution of the River
xvi. Creating Public Awareness through Information Dissemination
Strategies and Management"
4. The Committee monitored progress by interacting with concerned officers closely and filed its reports on consideration of which the Tribunal passed further orders including orders dated 29.01.2019, 11.09.2019, 05.03.2020, 06.07.2020 and 27.01.2021. By the said last order, the Tribunal considered 5th report of YMC dated 07.12.2020 to the effect that pollution level remained unsatisfactory on account of failure of the 2 Manoj Misra v. Delhi Development Authority & Ors. 3 Pramod Kumar Tyagi Vs. Art of Living International Center & Ors. 3 concerned authorities in taking necessary action. The YMC made recommendations for way forward with reference to each of the action points. Considering the same, the Tribunal issued further directions as follows:
"xxx ..................................xxx..........................................xxx
19. From the report of the Committee, it is clear that major problem of preventing pollution by discharge of sewage, industrial effluents and other pollutants remains unaddressed. This was so observed in para 18 the last order also, as quoted above in the paragraph 14. There is hardly any improvement in evolving meaningful and effective institutional mechanism for monitoring. Though IDMC is reported to have started functioning, tangible results are yet to be shown, as noted in the report of the YMC. The Committee has particularly found that 147 drains in the catchment of Najafgarh and Shahadra drains have not been tapped, as earlier directed. Against heading 6, dealing with repair and maintenance of drains, the Committee has noted huge gap in generation and treatment of sewage. The Committee has rightly recommended that all the drains in which untreated sewage is being discharged need to be intercepted and diverted so that the untreated sewage is not conveyed to the river. Such gaps need to be bridged in UP and Haryana also. The IDMC and DJB have to ensure this for Delhi. The monitoring by Additional Chief Secretary and Chief Secretary Delhi in terms of order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 24.07.2017 has yet to take place. Necessary devices for sewage and effluent treatment have still not been installed to the required extent. Inspite of availability of huge funds, DJB is not working in a professional manner, as observed by the YMC. Water quality remains highly deteriorated as pollutants are still being discharged into the drains. Flood plains are not being made encroachment free, affecting the riverine ecology. Awareness programmes are inadequate. Biodiversity parks and other measures have also been found to be inadequate. Frothing frequently found is in absence of regulating composition of detergents, which find place in the river through sewage, for which action needs to be taken by DPCC/CPCB/Ministry of Consumer Affairs. E-flow needs to be managed by resolving inter state issues administratively. Accountability needs to be enforced against failure of timelines which are being changed at leisure with no adverse consequences against non-performers. Compensation regime needs to be strictly followed on 'polluter pays' principle which was not happening depicting failure of the regulators. The observations in respect of authorities in Delhi equally apply to the States of Haryana and UP.
20. There is, thus, need for continuous and effective working of the IDMC to plan and oversee prevention of untreated sewage being discharged in the drains or the river. Apart from discharge of sewage, there is need to stop industries from discharging effluents by concerned statutory authorities, including the DPCC. The issue of 4 protection of flood plains by the DDA remains to be satisfactorily addressed even though steps are said to have been taken for constitution of a SPV for the purpose. Encroachment is huge and steps taken are miniscule. Meaningful working of SPV by DDA will depend on success to remove encroachment and keeping continuous vigilance. Thus, on the part of concerned Authorities in the State of Delhi, Haryana and UP further actions in terms of the earlier orders of this Tribunal as well as the current recommendations of the Committee need to be taken, which may be overseen by the Chief Secretaries of concerned States on regular basis by constituting a cell of experts on the subject directly reporting to the Chief Secretary for meaningful monitoring in coordination with authorities like DDA, IDMC, DPCC, DJB etc.(in the context of Delhi). Non-adherence to timelines must result in adequate and stringent action against accountable persons. Timely completion of projects must be ensured, otherwise for generations the problem will remain untackled, as vested interests will like the projects to remain pending and delayed to the detriment of the public interest. Interim measures like phytoremediation need to employed where permanent solution is delayed. Earlier directions of the Tribunal, which by and large remain un-complied so far, need to be strictly followed with meaningful coercive measures against the erring officers and the violators.
21. As already noted, the matter has been dealt with by the Hon'ble Supreme Court for 23 years, before transfer of the matter to this Tribunal in the year 2017 and by this Tribunal for almost nine years. Finding inadequate compliance, the Tribunal constituted a Monitoring Committee on 26.07.2018 with the hope that day to day monitoring by an independent Committee may result in some improvement. The Committee has functioned for more than two years and contributed in a big way in steering the authorities with a clear road-map by its exhaustive reports on every aspect but the authorities' action has been every time found to be inadequate and continues to be so. This requires the authorities to change their attitude and rise to the occasion to discharge their Constitutional obligation to the citizens to provide clean environment by protecting the scarce sources of water by stringent steps against the erring officers and the violators and by effective monitoring at appropriate higher levels, reviewing/modifying the failed models and failed officers. All the issues have been duly identified and categorical directions issued. Recommendations made for future compliance need to be taken up seriously by the concerned statutory and administrative authorities.
22. The Tribunal or Tribunal appointed Committee cannot be expected as substitute for governance and can at best set directions. This has been done by elaborate order passed on 13.1.2015, based on recommendations of the Experts with defined timelines. The order also constitutes 'Principal Committee' headed by Secretary Jalshakti to oversee compliance. Further, the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 24.4.2017 directed monitoring by Additional Chief Secretary Urban Development and Chief Secretary Delhi. The Hon'ble 5 Supreme Court has fixed deadline of 31.3.2018 for ensuring pollution control devices, indicating sources of funding and requiring coercive measures for failure which has not happened. The satisfactory results are not visible on account of failure of enforcement and monitoring, as found by the Monitoring Committee.
23. Accordingly, we direct that in terms of directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and earlier orders of this Tribunal, henceforth the Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi, in coordination with other authorities (such as, Additional Chief Secretary Urban Development, DDA, IDMC, DPCC, DJB) and the Chief Secretaries of Haryana and UP may personally monitor the progress, by evolving effective administrative mechanism to handle grim situation caused by years of neglect. Causes of failure of existing mechanism and remedial measures required be addressed in the light of reports of the Committee. This needs to be further overseen at National level by the Central Monitoring Committee, headed by Secretary Jalshakti, which also includes NMCG and CPCB, in terms of earlier orders of this Tribunal. To give effect to the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the Tribunal has already directed constitution of River Rejuvenation Committees (RRCs) in all the States/UTs by order passed in OA No. 673 of 2018 in Re: News item published in "The Hindu" authored by Shri Jacob Koshy titled "More river stretches are now critically polluted : CPCB, to be headed by the Environment Secretaries of States/UTs, to prepare and execute action plans for restoration of the polluted river stretches, under the oversight of the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs. Such action plans are already in place. The RRCs of Delhi, Haryana and UP may accordingly monitor execution of the action plans with proper inter-departmental coordination, to remedy the polluted stretches of river Yamuna in their respective jurisdiction, subject to oversight of the Chief Secretaries on quarterly basis, who may thereafter give their quarterly reports to the Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) headed by the Secretary, Jal Shakti in terms of order dated 21.09.2020 in O.A. No. 673/2018, supra.
24. We place on record our appreciation for the contribution of YMC in the last more than two years. With the taking over of the further monitoring by the Chief Secretaries of NCT of Delhi (and other authorities of Delhi, including DDA, DJB and Municipal Corporations), Haryana and UP, proceedings of the Committee constituted by this Tribunal on the subject will stand concluded, subject to further monitoring by the concerned State Authorities.
25. As noted earlier, in terms of directions atleast by four orders i.e. dated 24.04.2017 in W.P. No. 725/1994, (in the case of Yamuna) dated 22.02.2017 in (2017) 5 SCC 326 (dealing with the issue of preventing water pollution), in (2015) 12 SCC 764 (regarding Ganga, which also includes Yamuna) and dated 2.9.2014 in Almitra Patel, WP No. 888/19964, referred to in para 10 above (regarding solid waste management), the Hon'ble Supreme Court has directed this Tribunal to monitor compliance of directions of the Hon'ble Supreme 4 Almitra H. Patel Vs. Union of India & Ors.6
Court to prevent pollution, particularly of rivers. The Tribunal has accordingly attempted to do so and also required Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs to appear before the Tribunal in person for interaction on the issues. Based on such interaction, further directions were given. In view thereof, the registry of this Tribunal has sent, apart from other orders, copies of its orders dated 21.05.2020 and 29.06.2020 to the Secretary General, Hon'ble Supreme Court5, with the request that the matter be considered on the judicial side of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, if required. In continuation, we direct the registry of this Tribunal to forward a copy of this order to the Secretary General, Supreme Court of India, for the matter being placed on the judicial side, if so required. We also note that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognizance on the subject of remediation of polluted Rivers in Suo Moto W.P. (C) No. 01 of 2021.
26. With the above directions, all proceedings before this Tribunal will stand disposed of, subject to the matters being further considered by the Tribunal in O.A. No. 593/2017 and 673/2018 in the light of reports of the CMC, based on monitoring by it with the assistance of Chief Secretaries of States/UTs in terms of orders of this Tribunal to give effect to the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, referred to above. However, it is made clear that this order will not affect earlier directions, including the constitution and functioning of the 'Principal Committee', headed by Secretary, Jal Shakti in terms of order dated 13.01.2015 read with later orders. Wherever the YMC has suggested filing of periodical reports with this Tribunal, such reports be filed with the Secretary, Ministry of Jalshakti, heading the 'Principal Committee' in terms of order dated 15.1.2015 and also heading the CMC. The website set up by the YMC and all other record available with it may now be utilized as per directions of the Chief Secretary, Delhi.
27. On the above pattern, the monitoring by the Committee headed by Justice Pritam Pal for the stretch of Yamuna in Haryana will also stand concluded, subject to the monitoring being now undertaken by and under the Chief Secretary, Haryana and filing of reports with the CMC, on same pattern as in Delhi."
5. Thus, while the proceedings were disposed of after specific directions with the expectation that the concerned authorities will snow due sensitivity to the matter but unfortunately this does not appear to have happened. The present application depicts grim situation calling for further intervention of this Tribunal. The Chief Secretary of Delhi is required to ascertain latest factual position and give his report by email within two months with explanation why coercive and penal measures be not taken in 5 As mentioned in Paras 9 and 12 7 terms of fixing accountability for such blatant failure of the authorities in protecting the water quality of river Yamuna, which is tributary of Ganga, by preventing discharge of pollution. It may also be necessary to seek similar reports from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The reports of Chief Secretaries may be in a consolidated manner in the light of inter- departmental review and ground realities.
6. It remains a matter of concern that authorities should not be able to maintain river flowing in the Capital of India clean inspite of clear roadmap for its rejuvenation and clear directions of Tribunal. How the continuing loss to environment and public health should be ignored is beyond anyone's comprehension. It is shocking to note the data relating to water quality of river Yamuna and the pollution load posted by DPCC on its website depicting that drains remain un-trapped even after a year of the last order. This shows utter lack of adequate action and monitoring by higher authorities. Delhi, Haryana and UP have to review the situation at higher levels and take remedial action. They may place factual status on progress made in the last one year, whether the higher authorities are satisfied with the same, if not, further plan of action with timelines and fixing accountability, extent of sewage and trade effluents being still discharged. Based on these reports the Tribunal may have to fix accountability of concerned authorities and financial liability for compensation for damage to the environment.
7. Further, the Central Monitoring Committee constituted by this Tribunal by the last order referred to earlier, headed by Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti which also includes NMCG and CPCB may also file latest status report of compliance status in the matter and its action taken report and recommendations within one month by e-mail at judicial- 8 [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
List for further consideration on 04.11.2022. A copy of this order be forwarded to the Secretary, MoJS, NMCG, CPCB and Chief Secretaries of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, by e- mail for compliance.
Adarsh Kumar Goel, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Prof. A. Senthil Vel, EM August 30, 2022 Original Application No. 562/2022 DV 9