Extending its face-off with Raj Niwas on environmental issues, the Delhi government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order which formed a high-level committee on solid waste management headed by Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
The Aam Aadmi Party government had filed a similar plea in the apex court on May 24 against the NGT order in January appointing Mr. Saxena the chairperson of a high-level committee on the Yamuna rejuvenation project.
The fresh appeal on Tuesday argued that the green court’s February 16 order violates the constitutional scheme of governance in the city and the L-G only serves as a “nominal figurehead”, except in matters pertaining to land, public order and police.
It added that public health, sanitation and solid waste management are referable to Entry 6 of Schedule 12, which gives power to the local government, that is the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), to deal with these issues.
The panel set up by the NGT includes the Chief Secretary along with Secretaries of the Irrigation, Forest and Environment, Agriculture as well as Finance Departments of the Delhi government as members.
While the appeal acknowledged the importance of a coordinated approach, it asserted that the language used in the NGT order sidelines the elected government. Granting executive powers to an authority that lacks the constitutional mandate to possess them undermines the elected government’s rightful jurisdiction, the plea argued.
The government submitted that the remedial steps as suggested by the NGT — such as setting up new waste processing facilities, augmenting existing waste processing facilities and remediation of legacy waste sites — require budgetary allocations authorised by the Delhi government/Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi and, hence, the role of the elected government becomes extremely necessary in this regard.
