In spite of orders passed on July 16, 2024 and November 22, 2024, the committee appointed by the state of Uttar Pradesh has not complied with the directions issued by the Supreme Court (SC) to report on the illegal filling of waterbodies in Nagina tehsil, Bijnor district.
The state has not shown "elementary courtesy" of making an application for extension of time for complying with the orders passed by the court, noted the bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan January 17, 2025.
The apex court directed the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Uttar Pradesh to file a personal affidavit placing on record the details of the work carried out as of date in terms of the order of July 16, 2024.
The affidavit should be filed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Uttar Pradesh by January 24, 2025. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for February 7, 2025.
On January 21, 2025, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) instructed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to follow the recommended remedial measures for restoring the Yamuna floodplain, as proposed by the team formed by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and as noted in the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) report as "expeditiously as possible without causing any unnecessary delay".
The original application was registered suo motu based on reports in the newspaper The Hindu in April 2024. The news stories alleged that illegal constructions have come up in the floodplain of Yamuna and DDA has failed to remove them. There was also an allegation that DDA is planning to construct permanent structures on the floodplain of river Yamuna in violation of the NGT orders.
DDA, in its response, accepted that the "DDA has been entrusted with the affirmative duty to protect and restore river Yamuna, its morphology and its floodplains. It has reiterated the direction of the Tribunal for the protection of the Yamuna floodplains scrupulously and methodically and to prevent encroachment or pollution of any kind therein that can damage the ecology and the floodplain".
DDA also notified the court that it has initiated a project to improve the ecological nature of the floodplain and make it accessible to the public. The authority has segmented the entire 22 kilometre stretch in Delhi's urban context, from Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage on both sides of the Yamuna river, into 11 projects. Additionally, it was revealed that the total project area under this restoration scheme is around 1,600 hectares, part of which is under the UP Irrigation Department's jurisdiction.
After reviewing the explanations provided by the DDA for all six locations and considering the observations made by the CPCB, the court noted that some of the illegal constructions have been removed and the green cover has increased. However, further actions are still required based on the CPCB report, and the DDA must exercise its authority to remove such constructions from the flood plains.
The common reply affidavit of Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources) and NMCG dated October 15, 2024 disclosed that the NMCG had constituted a team for inspection of the sites in question which had submitted the report and the team had observed as under and has suggested remedial actions.
The NMCG, which is the competent authority under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, has already examined the issue, and the team constituted by the NMCG has suggested the remedial action which is required to be complied with by the DDA, the court was informed.