Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (May 2, 2024)

Pollution in Buckingham Canal, Tamil Nadu

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognisance on a news article regarding pollution in the Buckingham Canal, published in newspaper The Times of India on February 19, 2024. NGT directed relevant authorities to submit their response within six weeks to the southern zonal bench in Chennai.

The news article highlighted that the Buckingham Canal in Chennai, Tamil Nadu was clogged with plastic waste and sewage flowing in from storm drains. It also revealed that the canal’s original depth should be 6 feet (1.83 metres) below sea level, but due to silt accumulation and sewage, it is now only 3 feet (0.91 metres) above sea level.

A buildup of waste, including plastic, thermocol, rubber and wrappers blocked the canal for a stretch of 100 metres near Chepauk MRTS station, the article stated. The accumulation of sewage leads to flooding in the canal during periods of heavy rainfall. 

The article also referenced a January 2024 study published in Aqua, a journal of water supply, research, and technology, indicating that the biological oxygen demand ranged from 1.2-2.5 milligrammes per litre, suggesting the presence of organic matter consuming oxygen.

The court noted that the news article raised substantial issues concerning compliance with environmental standards. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) informed the court that the canal was cleaned on April 26, 2024, and an inspection took place on 27 April 2024, with samples collected for analysis. However, the report from the sample analysis is still pending. 

TNPCB requested additional time to submit a comprehensive report detailing the current status of the canal.

Protection of Laxmi Tal in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh from pollution and unauthorised encroachment

On April 30, 2024, NGT directed the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Jhansi to file a report detailing the construction in the middle of Laxmi Tal, along with information about the amount of treated and untreated sewage discharged into the pond, the original area of the pond and its current size.

The tribunal directed the report be filed within six weeks following the observations and directions in the order dated January 3, 2024.

The case concerned the protection of Laxmi Tal at Jhansi from pollution and unauthorised encroachment, as well as the discharge of untreated sewage and sullage. 

On January 3, 2024, the NGT had directed the commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Jhansi, to submit a water quality analysis report indicating the quality of the water in Laxmi Tal and the treated effluent from a sewage treatment plant of 26 million litres a day. However, no report had been submitted.

District Magistrate Jhansi had constituted a committee “in spite of the fact that there was no direction to the District Magistrate to submit any report,” NGT noted.

The court also raised questions on the composition of the so-called committee where not even a single member from the State Pollution Control Board was included. There were two members of the committee stated to be “water experts” of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.

Counsel appearing for the state of Uttar Pradesh could not disclose the background of those members and how they are treated to be water experts. “An attempt has been made by the counsel for Uttar Pradesh to rely upon such a report but “unless the authenticity of the report is established such a report cannot be relied upon,” the court said.

Fire at NTPC’s North Karanpura Super Thermal Power Plant

The fire breaking out at NTPC’s North Karanpura Super Thermal Power Plant in Chatra district, Jharkhand is a serious matter and raises substantial issues relating to compliance of the environmental norms and implementation of the provisions of Scheduled enactment, said NGT, directing notices be issued to the authorities concerned .

An original application was registered suo motu on the basis of the news item titled Massive fire breaks out at NTPC’s Superthermal power plant in Jharkhand, appearing in the Business Standard dated April 19, 2024.

As per the article, a fire broke out at Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd material yard of unit 3 in the power plant. The installation is a 660x3 MW coal-based power plant, and till the time of reporting, no casualties were found.

The counsel’s representing the Central Pollution Control Board and Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) were not able to inform the court in respect of the figure of casualty, if any, in the incident. Counsel for JSPCB also could not inform about the compliance of the environmental norms by the unit.

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