The bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court (SC) directed the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) on April 7, 2025, to submit a compliance report on the Adampur landfill site.
The apex court directed that the compliance report should be forwarded by the BMC to the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).
NEERI would inspect the relevant sites and submit a detailed report regarding compliances made by the municipal corporation. NEERI has been directed to file a report by the end of July 2025 which would be considered by the SC on August 11, 2025.
Urban waste disposal from Bhopal began at Adampur in 2018 and after a couple of incidents of fire at the site, environmentalist Subhash C Pandey moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2023, charging violation of solid waste rules by the BMC at the Adampur site. The NGT had imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 crore on BMC in August 2023, which was challenged by the latter in the SC.
The Jammu and Kashmir State Industrial Development Corporation and Central Pollution Control Board were directed by the SC to file an affidavit indicating commissioning as well as operation of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs).
The affidavit should also indicate as to who would be the project proponent and who would be responsible for ensuring effective operation of these CETPs, the order of April 8, 2025, said.
No permission has been given for the ‘In Situ Slum Redevelopment and Rehabilitation on Public Private Partnership model 2019’ proposed to be implemented by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in Kusumpur Pahari by the Department of Forest and Wildlife, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) or Ridge Management Board (RMB).
This was stated in the report filed before the NGT on April 8, 2025, by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Department of Forest and Wildlife and RMB.
The report said the area falls within the territorial jurisdiction of the West Forest Division, Department of Forest and Wildlife, GNCTD. However, the Department of Forests and Wildlife does not have the possession of the area.
Letters have been issued to the concerned land owning agency namely Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Land and Building Department, GNCTD and also Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Vasant Vihar for providing the map with geo-coordinates of extent of area of In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, Kusumpur Pahari and to analyse the extent of project area in Kusumpur Pahari falling under the morphological Ridge.
As the department doesn’t have the exact geo coordinates of the project area where the In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, Kusumpur Pahari is being proposed, it cannot be ascertained whether the project area is falling under morphological Ridge or not.
The petitioner had sought intervention by NGT to stop the DDA from commencing In-Situ Rehabilitation Scheme, Kusumpur Pahari, Vasant Vihar in public private partnership mode.