The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has penalised the Punjab government and has asked them to pay ₹2,180 crores as Environmental Compensation for failing to treat solid and liquid waste.

A bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and along with an expert member Prof. Senthil Vel have said that this matter is of great concern that even after 4 and half decades of the enactment of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and expiry of statutory timelines under Solid Waste Management Rules, the voids are still large which plague waste management in the State and continue the pollute the environment.

The NGT in its order said that are there any existing insurmountable difficulties for the State authorities or lack of will and determination which is keeping matter alive?

The NGT also pointed out that it seems that there is a lack of good governance and determination which is responsible for the situation and it needs to be a remedy soon.

The order was passed pursuant to the Supreme Court’s directions in Almitra H. Patel Vs. Union of India & Ors and Paryavaran Suraksha vs. Union of India which requires the tribunal to monitor enforcement of solid and liquid waste management norms.

The tribunal said that all it needs is a a change in approach for realizing that remedial action cannot do not wait for an infinite time and need prompt cations.

The Tribunal stated that they have already suggested change in approach after realizing that remedial action cannot wait for indefinite period as is being proposed by the Administration. Sources of funding are laid down in the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

It also mentions that responsibility of the State is to have comprehensive plan to control pollution which is its absolute liability, which is not being understood.

The Tribunal also said that the compliance with environmental norms on waste management should ideally be given highest priority, and that it is about time that the State should realize its duty to law and to citizens and adopted further monitoring at its own level.

The NGT has determined that the State is to be held accountable for violation to the extent of discharge of 1000 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage for which it fined the State ₹2,000 crores.

The NGT has also fixed a amount of ₹180 as fine for failure to manage solid , taking the total fine amount to ₹2,180 crores.

The tribunal had already fined the State ₹100 crores for the failure to prevent discharge of untreated sewage and to remediate solid waste, it has now asked the state to deposit ₹2080 crores in a ring-fenced account to be operated as per the directions of Chief Secretary and utilised for restoration measures.

This is not a sole incident, Punjab is the fifth state after West Bengal, Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh and Rajastham to have been fined for improper waste management.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Development Authority to deposit Rs 50 lakh as environment damage compensation with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for allegedly contaminating storm water drains on the Samalkha, Dwarka Road.

Justice Navin Chawla, while hearing the matter through video conferencing, has directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to deposit the amount with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) within two weeks from August 10. It further directed that the deposit shall be subject to the outcome of the present petition.

The court also issued notice to DPCC, represented by Biraja Mahapatra, and sought its stand on the DDA”s plea within four weeks.

Biraja Mahapatra, counsel appearing for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, accepted the notice and sought four weeks’ time to file a counter-affidavit. Mahapatra further added: “Order dated 14.11.2019 of this Court passed in WP(C) 10231/2019 titled Delhi Development Authority vs. Delhi Pollution Control Committee Department of Environment, would show that the petitioner admits to water contamination, albeit tries to pass the blame on other entities.”

The order came on DDA”s plea challenging DPCC”s July 10 decision to impose environment damage compensation of Rs 50 lakh on the land owning agency for allegedly spoiling the water quality in the storm water drains installed on the Samalkha-Dwarka Road in south west Delhi.

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Considering the submissions, the bench directed the DDA to deposit the Environmental compensation within two weeks.

The matter will be taken up again on August 29.

– India Legal Bureau