The National Green Tribunal has sought a report from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee on illegal banquets halls in west Delhi, while observing that there is an urgent need to regulate banquet halls in order to curb their adverse impact on environment and public health.
A Bench headed by NGT chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “There is dire need of proper regulation of banquet halls to mitigate the adverse impact on environment and public health. Further steps are required for laying down guidelines and mechanism for assessing the adverse impact and also ensuring proper monitoring mechanisms.”
It was hearing a plea filed by city resident Deepak Datta who sought remedial action against the operation of illegal banquet halls. The petitioner had claimed that the halls were running without requisite building plans and other approvals.
The NGT also took note of an action-taken report, which said that ₹80 lakh was recovered from 91 defaulting banquet halls in terms of inadequate parking, illegal groundwater extraction and operating without consent.
“There is no material to indicate how the compensation recovered meets the norms of ‘polluter pays’ principle in terms of extent of pollution, period of violation, cost of damage to the environment and public health and the turnover of the polluters,” the Bench said.
The tribunal directed DPCC Member Secretary to furnish an action-taken report by November 30 and asked the official to be present before the Bench on December 17.
