The Supreme Court has stayed the High Court of Karnataka’s June 15 order freezing the suo motu proceedings before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the pollution in Bellandur lake in Bengaluru.
A Bench of Justices, Rohinton Fali Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, passed the stay order on a petition filed by the NGO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, and issued notice to Shashi Distilleries Pvt. Ltd., which had moved the High Court.
The NGO, represented by senior advocate Sajan Poovayya and Balaji Srinivasan, submitted that the High Court did not consider the environmental impact of their order and the efforts undertaken by the tribunal to rejuvenate the city’s vital waterbody. “A serious environmental threat exists due to which right to life of the citizens of Bengaluru was jeopardised,” Mr. Poovayya submitted. He referred to fires on the lake caused by the discharge of effluents by factories and establishments surrounding the lake.
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Mr. Poovayya argued that the high court did not consider Section 22 of National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, availing for an appeal to the Supreme Court from an order of the Principal Bench of the NGT, which took up the case on the basis of the doctrine of necessity.
The HC had granted the stay primarily on the argument raised that the Principal Bench of the NGT had no jurisdiction to decide the matter pertaining to Karnataka, and this case should have been heard by the Southern Bench of the tribunal situated in Chennai.