National Green Tribunal
Sh. Neel Mani vs South Delhi Municipal Coorperation on 21 February, 2023
Item No.1 (Court No. 2)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPALBENCH, NEW DELHI.
(Through Physical Hearing with Hybrid VC Option)
Original Application No. 92/2023
Neel Mani Applicant
Versus
Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Anr. Respondents
Date of hearing: 21.02.2023.
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Abhinay and Mr. Pooran Chand Roy, Advocate.
Application Section 18 (1) read with Sections 14 and 15 of the
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
ORDER
1. The applicant has filed the present application under section 18 (1) read-with Sections 14 and 15 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 seeking relocation of the dhalao/garbage dumps situated in front of entry gate of the residence of the Applicant.
2. The applicant has submitted that the father of the Applicant constructed family residence at plot bearing No. 74, West Friends Colony, New Delhi in the year 1954. Next to the house is a service lane, a nallah and then the Friends Colony Club. In earlier times there was another service lane at the other end of the club. At the end of that service lane there used to be a place to dump garden waste. The club closed the end of that service lane and made it the entrance to the said Friends Colony club O.A No. 92/2023 Neel Mani Vs. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Anr. 2 and simultaneously closed access to the dump, which was in the month of April, 2000, moved/shifted to the other side next to plot bearing No. 74, West Friends Colony, New Delhi without intimation to/permission from the applicant. The said dhalao has now been officially made a garbage dump for whole of the Friends Colony (West) causing health hazards not only to the Applicant herein but also the other residents of the Colony thereby violating fundamental rights of the Applicant as guaranteed under Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, which include and are not limited to right to have a clean and healthy environment. The Applicant on several occasions contacted the respondents and raised the requests to relocate the dhalao/garbage dump but the respondents never paid any attention to any of such request. The Applicant filed writ petition civil no. 8854 of 2006 before Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the year 2006 and Hon'ble High Court of Delhi vide its order dated 03.02.2010 directed the Respondents to maintain the hygienic condition of dhalao and granted liberty to the Applicant to approach Hon'ble High Court of Delhi if aggrieved by the non- compliance of the order dated 03.02.2010 by the Respondents. The Applicant again filed writ petition civil no. 1258 of 2020 before Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. Hon'ble High Court of Delhi vide order dated 05.02.2020 directed the Respondents to maintain the hygienic condition. However, the Respondents, in violation of the order dated 03.02.2010 and 05.02.2020, are still not maintaining the hygienic condition of the dhalao. Subsequently, the Applicant withdrew the above said writ petition for filing the present Application before this Hon'ble Tribunal.
3. Prima facie, the averments made in the application raise questions relating to environment arising out of the implementation of the enactments specified in Schedule I to the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. O.A No. 92/2023 Neel Mani Vs. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Anr. 3
4. Let notices alongwith copies of the application and documents attached therewith be issued to the respondents requiring them to file their response/reply to the averments made in the application within six weeks by email at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
5. In view of the averments made in the application, we also consider it appropriate that a Joint Committee be constituted to verify the factual position and suggest appropriate remedial action. Accordingly, we constitute a Joint Committee comprising of Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and District Magistrate (South East) Delhi, and direct the same to undertake visits to the site, look into the grievances of the applicant, verify the factual position and suggest appropriate remedial action. The DPCC will be the nodal agency for coordination and compliance.
6. Report may be submitted by the Joint Committee within two months by e-mail at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR Supported PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
7. List for further consideration on 24.04.2023.
8. A copy of this order, along with a copy of the application and documents attached with the same, be forwarded to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, DPCC and District Magistrate (South East) Delhi by e-mail for requisite compliance.
Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM February 21 2023 AG