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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) April 1, 2025 expressed its displeasure at the repeated non-compliance of court orders by the district magistrate of Shamli on the matter of River Khokhari, a rain-fed tributary of River Yamuna at Shamli and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh.
“We find that the District Magistrate, Shamli has repeatedly ignored the order of the Tribunal and has committed repeated default in submitting the proper report as a result of which this matter is being delayed and time of the Tribunal is unnecessarily wasted,” the order said.
The bench comprising NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, along with justices Sudhir Agarwal and Arun Kumar Tyagi imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 upon the district magistrate, Shamli.
NGT granted four weeks time to the district magistrate to file the reply, keeping in view the observations made in the previous orders.
In the application, the tribunal is considering the issue of preservation and rejuvenation of Khokhari river at Shamli and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh. There is also an allegation of encroachment and pollution in the river. On March 1, 2024, notices were issued to the respondents.
When the matter was listed on May 10, 2024, a direction was issued to the district magistrates of the two districts to prepare a time-bound action plan for restoration of the river and submit it before the tribunal. When the matter was taken up on the next date on August 27, 2024, it was found that the district magistrates had not filed the response.
On the next date, December 6, 2024, it was noticed that neither the Shamli district magistrate had appeared virtually nor had filed the proper report. The report filed on behalf of the official was unsigned and vague, and did not give the complete particulars mentioned in the order.
Accordingly, the tribunal had directed the two district magistrates to file additional reports by way of their own affidavit, giving all the requisite details.
The Shamli district magistrate defaulted once more without any report filed on his behalf. A report has been placed on record on behalf of the chief development officer of the district, but this doesn’t represent the district magistrate nor is it supported by the official’s affidavit.
The commissioner of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) was directed by the principal bench of NGT April 1, 2025 to file an undertaking that the timeline for disposing of waste at Bhagtanwala dumpyard would be adhered to.
In the affidavit, the commissioner would also have to disclose the manner and mode of remediation of legacy waste and daily generated waste as well as the utilisation / use / disposal of the residue. The court has scheduled the next hearing of the case for August 4, 2025.
The tribunal, having registered the application on its own initiative, examined the issue of legacy waste accumulated at the Bhagtanwala garbage dumpsite, which led to a significant fire outbreak.
In an affidavit dated January 29, 2025, AMC commissioner revealed the progress on accumulated legacy waste and its remediation. The report indicated that about 420,000 tonnes of legacy waste has been remediated out of a total of 1.34 million tonnes (1.2 million tonnes at Bhagtanwala, 90,000 tonnes at Chabbal road and 45,000 tonnes at Chhehrata).
In respect to clearing the legacy waste, timeline has been given wherein phase 1 would end on May 31, 2025 and Phase 4 by May 31, 2026.
The commissioner and deputy commissioner, appearing virtually, have informed that the contract awarded to the agency for treatment of daily generated waste and remediation of legacy waste has now been terminated. Two separate contracts are being awarded: One for clearing legacy waste and the other for collection and remediation of daily generated waste. He has disclosed that about 500 tonnes of waste is generated every day within the municipal corporation limits of Amritsar.
The reply affidavit of the deputy commissioner, Amritsar dated February 21, 2025 disclosed that on the visit on November 19, 2024, around 1.15 million tonnes of legacy waste was found accumulated at the dumpsite and fresh waste was also being added. This means, the heap of legacy waste is growing every day with the dumping of daily generated untreated waste along with it.
The AMC commissioner has submitted that the timeline disclosed in the affidavit January 29, 2025 would be duly adhered to and the entire legacy waste at the dumpsite would be duly cleared within the said timeline.
NGT directed concerned authorities April 1, 2025 to file their response on the complaint of waterbody encroachment in Gram Panchayat Dadri, tehsil Sardhana, district Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
The respondents including the district magistrate, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the district’s water corportation and chief development officer, among others, have been directed to file their response / reply by way of affidavits. The next date of hearing is August 1, 2025.
The applicant’s allegation is that the pond area has been encroached upon by private persons and in spite of the action and order of eviction, encroachment has not been cleared. This, the applicant alleged, has resulted in environmental degradation; it has obstructed rejuvenation of the pond and its groundwater recharge capacity.
The tehsildar has identified as many as 21 unauthorised and illegal constructions on the pond area and has passed the evictions order. The official has also levied a compensation but till now no action has been taken.
The applicant also referred to a communication dated November 9, 2022 by the block development officer to the sub-divisional magistrate of Sardhana. It referred to a proposal for cleaning a 1.442 hectare pond in khasra number 440 area and also requesting its demarcation.
Counsel for the applicant submits that though demarcation of the pond has been done, eviction action has not been completed.