Down To Earth brings you top environmental cases heard in Supreme Court, high courts & National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the constitution of a committee to look into the waste management of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.
The Committee, comprising officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will be conducting inspections in the Dargah premises.
The tribunal directed the Committee to propose a future action plan to keep the place clean. The inspections will be conducted in the presence of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust.
A report on the matter must be filed by the Committee within four weeks, the order added. Six students — Aamir Shaikh, Deepak Chatap, Vaishnav Ingole, Revati Bagade, Shraddha Savakhande and Rakesh Mali had filed an environment interest litigation on the matter January 23, 2022.
The improper management of various ceremonial materials, such as clothes, flowers, incense sticks, etc, had led to the disposal of wastes into the Arabian Sea, as well as the road leading to the dargah, said the students.
The NGT directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to file an affidavit on the construction over sand dunes in Goa.
The Nova Resorts Pvt Ltd and Water Resources Department were also asked to file their reply affidavits within four weeks of the order.
The tribunal was hearing an appeal, filed by Paul Lobo and three others, against the order of the GCZMA. It had decided October 20, 2015, to discharge the proceedings on the revocation of permission granted in favour of Nova Resorts Pvt Ltd.
A site inspection conducted April 30, 2015, had found that the project was constructed on sand dunes, the applicants said. The impugned order itself admits of sand dunes being there on the spot and yet, in violation of the provisions of Coastal Regulation Zone norms, the tribunal said.
The Brackish Water Research Centre, a non-profit based in Surat, Gujarat, has asked the NGT to prohibit the illegal construction of a jetty by the Deendayal Port Authority. The litigants said they had approached the concerned authorities and no action has been taken so far.
The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh of the Western Zone Bench, Pune admitted the application and noted that “substantial question of environment appears to be made out in this matter”.
The court directed the respondents to submit their reply affidavits and posted the matter for August 26, 2022.
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