Terming the Municipal Corporation of Delhi “the biggest polluter” of the Yamuna, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuked the civic body for saying that it has nothing to do with the pollution of the river and warned it that all its three Commissioners will have to appear before the court if it persists with its stand.
“You (MCD) are the biggest polluter. You allow all domestic and industrial effluents into the river. Yet you take the stand that the MCD has no role to play!” observed a Bench of Justices A. K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar.
The Court told counsel to take a clear stand on the efforts being made by the MCD along with other civic agencies to clean the river.
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“You have been polluting the river and still being cool about it. If you continue to take the stand then all your three Commissioners will have to be present here at the next hearing and explain,” the Bench told MCD counsel Sanjib Sen.
Counsel drew the Court’s ire after he submitted that unlike other agencies the MCD has no role to play in the de-pollution drive.
On February 27, the Court had asked the Centre and the Governments of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to furnish information on expenditure incurred by them for cleaning the Yamuna.
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It had asked the Central Water Pollution Control Board to take samples of water of the river and submit a report on its cleanliness.
“The Central Water Pollution Control Board shall take samples of water of river Yamuna from the States of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh till Agra and submit their report within four weeks,” the Bench had said.
It directed all the authorities related to the work of controlling the river’s pollution to give details of the steps taken by them in this regard. The Court had issued the direction taking suo motu cognisance of an article on pollution in the Yamuna published in a national daily in 1994.