The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere  with the National Green Tribunal order that prohibited use of RO(Reverse Osmosis) filters in the capital and asked manufacturers to petition the Centre in the matter.

The directive came from a bench headed by Justices Rohinton Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat  after water purifier manufacturers  moved the apex court against the ban on use of RO filters in Delhi. The NGT had earlier imposed the ban on the grounds that precious potable water is wasted.

The NGT had earlier this year asked the  government to frame rules for manufacturing and sale of RO filters. It had also directed that wherever RO is permitted, manufacturers should ensure that more than 60 per cent of water should be recovered. The order came on a plea by an NGO which claimed that indiscriminate use of ROs was leading to huge wastage of water. The NGT order had also stated that more than 163 million Indians do not have access to clean water, which is the highest in the world.

—India Legal Bureau