Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
The Supreme Court asked the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to notify the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) — formed by SC to monitor forest-related matters — as a permanent body.
“Rather than CEC functioning as an ad-hoc body, it functioning as a permanent body would be in the interest of all the stakeholders,” the apex court observed on August 18, 2023.
The court made a similar observation in May 2023 as well. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta then accepted the suggestion and stated the Centre would publish a draft notification regarding this.
Mehta also handed over the draft notification that would be issued by MoEFCC. Following this, amicus curiae K Parameshwar suggested Centre to make provisions for the periodical audit of the functioning of CEC.
The solicitor general responded to this, saying the suggestion would be incorporated in the final notification.
A bench of judges Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta of the SC directed the authorities to restore waterbodies in Greater Noida. The counsel for Greater Noida and senior additional advocate general for Uttar Pradesh assured of submitting the restoration plan within four weeks.
After going through the photographs, the SC noted that the water bodies are presently barren land and need to be restored.
The Mazid Banda Lake at Serilingampally, Rangareddy district, is filled with construction and demolition waste, Telangana State Pollution Control Board informed the National Green Tribunal.
The lake is surrounded by high-rise buildings and residential houses. Presently, there exists no water in the lake. Temporary labour quarters were installed in the west direction of the lake.
A stormwater drain was constructed at a distance of 90 metres in the east direction from the full tank level of the lake, stated the board.
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