Pollution

Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (June 19, 2020)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Friday 19 June 2020
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Rath Yatra

The Supreme Court (SC) on June 18, 2020, directed that there would be no Rath Yatra anywhere in the temple town of Puri in Odisha or in any other part of the state this year. Further, there should be no activities, secular or religious, associated with the Rath Yatra during this period, the SC added.

The annual Rath Yatra, scheduled to be held from June 23, 2020, sees a gathering of about 10-12 lakh people and the festivities continue for a period of 10-12 days.

Holding the Rath Yatra in the current scenario would be against the interests of citizens’ public health and safety in the current scenario. “Article 25 of the Constitution of India itself confers the right to freely profess and propagate religion subject to health,” the SC order, said. 

COVID-19 workers’ welfare

The SC on June 17, directed the central government to issue appropriate directions to the chief secretaries of the states / Union Territories to ensure the well- being of doctors and health workers working with COVID-19 patients. Any violation of the directions would be treated as an offence under the Disaster Management Act, the SC warned.

Sutlej and Beas pollution

The 4th report of the Monitoring Committee headed by Justice Jasbir Singh, constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on steps to control pollution in the Sutlej and Beas rivers was uploaded to the NGT site on June 18.

The committee visited the industries and other pollution sources located in the catchment areas of the two rivers and made its recommendations that were sent to concerned officers to take further necessary action on the various activities to be carried out to control the pollution in the Sutlej. 

Jetpur pollution

The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) submitted a report to the NGT on the pollution in the Bhadar river due to polluting industries in the Jetpur area of Rajkot district. The GPCB, along with the Central Pollution Control Board, had carried out monitoring of the area in December 2019 for the purpose of filing the report.

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