Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) on February 12, 2024 to look into the matter of a floating hotel in Tehri lake, Uttarakhand. An application was filed suo motu based on a news article alleging that the hotel was still operating despite the fact that its licence had expired. The hotel was also polluting Ganga river by disposing of its waste in the river, it claimed.
NMCG was directed to examine the issue and submit the report to the NGT within two months. The authority was asked to see if such an activity is permissible under River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities (Amendment) Order, 2024.
The NGT February 13, 2024 directed the constitution of a joint committee to look into the allegations of illegal sand mining in Yamuna Khadar area of Nanglarai village, Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh.
The committee was instructed to visit the site, ascertain the true state of affairs, the extent of illegal mining and the individuals responsible and submit a status report.
The court also directed notices be issued to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board; collector and district magistrate, Muzaffarnagar; regional officer, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Lucknow and Central Pollution Control Board. The respondents were directed to file their reply at least a week before the next date of hearing, April 24, 2024.
The application was filed suo motu in response to a news item alleging illegal sand mining in the Yamuna Khadar area of Nanglarai village, as well as the construction of a sand bund that has hampered river flow.
Sand mining has created 30-feet-deep pits and crops in nearby agricultural fields have been destroyed as a result of overloaded vehicles transporting the sand, the article alleged. The bund, which was built to prevent flooding in the nearby inhabited area, has been destroyed by trucks transporting the sand, posing a risk of flooding during rains, it further said.
The eastern bench of the NGT directed collector cum-deputy commissioner, Garhwa, Jharkhand to submit an explanation “for deliberately filing a false affidavit before the court” over the eco-sensitive zone of Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary.
An affidavit filed on behalf of the collector cum-deputy commissioner, Garhwa stated that only draft publication of the eco-sensitive zone of Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary is available, which was published in 1979. The final publication of the same has not yet been made.
The court expressed surprise that an officer of the rank of collector-cum deputy commissioner was “making a statement on affidavit which is absolutely false and negated by the documents on record”.
The MoEFCC December 13, 2015 notified the eco-sensitive zone of the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary.
”The ignorance of the collector-cum-deputy commissioner, Garhwa, is shocking,” the NGT said, directing the collector to submit an explanation for deliberately filing a false affidavit before the court.
In the meanwhile, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Jharkhand and divisional forest officer, Garhwa have been granted two weeks time to file their counter affidavit.
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