National Green Tribunal
Joginder Kumar Lamba vs State Of Uttar Pradesh on 4 September, 2023
Item No. 03 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
(BY HYBRID MODE)
Original Application No. 808/2022
Joginder Kumar Lamba Applicant
Versus
State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. Respondent
Date of hearing: 04.09.2023
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Harish Kumar Gupta, Advocate
Respondent: Mr. Amit Singh Chauhan, Adv. for CPCB
Mr. Pradeep Misra & Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Advs. for UPPCB
Mr. Abhay Kumar Tyagi, Adv. for R - 2 to 5
ORDER
1. This original application has been filed raising a grievance against illegal extraction of ground water by Respondent Nos. 6 and 7 - Aims Max Gardenia Developers Pvt. Ltd. and Spectrum Mall, NOIDA, UP for construction purpose. The allegation is that Respondent Nos. 6 and 7 were extracting ground water and continuously using it for construction of structure and superstructure of Spectrum Mall without approved ground water connection.
2. The Tribunal by order dated 22.11.2022 had constituted the joint Committee of CPCB, UP State PCB, Director, Ground Water Authority, UP, District Magistrate, Noida and the NOIDA Authority with a direction to look into the matter in coordination with each other and submit the report to the following effect:
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4. The joint Committee may hold its first meeting within two weeks, undertake visit to the site and on verification of facts, take further action. An action taken report specifying the permission granted by Ground Water Board, if any, conditions stipulated therefor, compliance status of such conditions, action for non compliance on polluter pays principle or otherwise, source of water used in construction activities and its extent, turnover of the projects in question and such other relevant aspects as may be found necessary may be filed by e-mail within two months at judicial- [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/ OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF. If violations are found, the PPs may be put to notice of these proceedings and copy of report furnished to them by email for their response, if any, to this Tribunal, before the next date. Needless to say that if the PPs do not comply with the law, NOIDA and other Authorities are expected to stop the project."
3. In pursuance to the above order, the joint Committee had filed the report dated 02.02.2023 to the effect that no tubewell was observed and water requirement was being fulfilled by Noida STP treated water. The Noida Authority had also filed reply to the same effect. Certain documents were enclosed with the reply of the Noida Authority in support of the plea of purchase of treated water which were found to be prima-facie doubtful and the report was found be lacking independent verification being filed mechanically. Hence, by the order dated 06.02.2023, a direction was issued to file a fresh report after independent verification of facts. There was a further direction to verify genuineness of source of water use. There was also a direction that the nominees of the authorities in the Committee will be of higher rank than those who had given the report earlier, with inclusion of Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
4. In terms of the above direction, a fresh joint report dated 16.05.2023 has been filed. The joint report reflects that further inspection was carried out by the joint Committee Members on 02.03.2023. The detailed observations made in the fresh joint report are as under:
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1. Treated water collected in tanks of approx. 500 KL capacity is lifted through pumps for purposes of construction work. The tanks are already constructed in the premises of the project areas, which was verified during inspection.
2. During the inspection of Joint Committee, no tube well/ bore well was observed within the premises and it was informed by the PP that no tube well exists in their premises since possession of the plot.
3. Shri Sagar Saxena, representative of project, has informed that, the treated water have been purchased from STP of Noida Development Authority, Sector 50 Noida, and it was transported through tankers. The total treated water consumed/ used is approximately 31,558 Kiloliter during the construction at site Spectrum@Metroin Phase-I & II from April 2019 to 2022.
As informed by PP, 18,505 Kiloliter of treated water was used for construction process (Curing, Brick Work, Plaster and flooring). There was no consumption of STP water for RMC / Concrete Mixing because the activity of RMC is being outsourced.
Apart from construction, 13,053 Kiloliter of STP water is used for dust mitigation at site as well as on road.
Item wise breakup of water requirement Vs treated water is furnished and placed at Annexure-3.
4. Noida Authority in its reply dated 29-03-2023 to Hon'ble NGT in this matter to authenticate genuineness of the sources of water for construction (quantity of treated water, receipt no, receipt date, tanker capacity, treated water lifted etc.) has clarified that, the total of 40,000 Kiloliter treated water have been purchased from the Noida Authority out of which total 31,558 Kiloliter have been lifted/ supplied to M/s Aims Max Gardenia Developers Pvt. Ltd., Plot no. A, B, C & D, Eco city, Sector-75, Noida. The details of verified documents related to supply of treated water is annexed as Annexure-4.
5. For water requirement of operational phase, Project Proponent has obtained water connection from Noida Authority and has installed water storage tank in the premises. The representative of the Project informed that an underground water storage tank with ample capacity is constructed for operational section of mall.
2.3. Conclusion In view of above fads and figures provided by Project Proponent and Noida Authority, Committee is of the opinion that Project Proponent namely M/s Aims Max Gardenia Developers Pvt. Ltd., Plot no. A, B, C & D, Ecocity, Sector-75/ Nokia had used treated STP water amounting to 31,558 Kiloliter for the purpose of construction and dust controlling and the same has been verified by the submission made by Noida authority with 3 the records available for sale of STP water to project proponent."
5. The above joint report reveals that no tubewell/borewell was observed within the premises during the inspection and as per information provided by the PP, no tubewell exists in the premises since possession of the plot. Report further reveals that the treated water has been purchased from STP of Noida Development Authority and it was transported through tankers. The detail of purchase has also been disclosed. The joint Committee has found that the PP had used the treated STP water amounting to 31,558 kiloliter for the purpose of construction and dust controlling and the same was verified by the submission made by the Noida Authority with the available record relating to sale of STP water to the PP. A separate additional affidavit on behalf of Respondent Nos. 2 to 5 has been filed clarifying the doubt expressed by Tribunal about the STP water receipts filed earlier along-with the reply.
6. Having regard to the aforesaid, we find that at this stage, there is no material on record to come to the conclusion that there is any illegal extraction of ground water by Respondent Nos. 6 and 7 for the purpose of construction of structure and superstructure of Spectrum Mall.
7. Hence, no further action in this OA is required which is accordingly disposed of.
Prakash Shrivastava, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM September 04, 2023 Original Application No. 808/2022 DV 4