The Supreme Court on July 11 stayed a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of January 9 appointing the Lieutenant Governor as the chairperson of a High Level Committee to combat unabated pollution in river Yamuna.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud made it clear that its stay was applicable only to the extent of the appointment of the Lieutenant Governor as chairperson of the committee.
The Order came in a petition filed by the Delhi government challenging the appointment of LG. The AAP government said it was unconstitutional to appoint an “unelected figurehead who does not have any authority to act on his own except on the aid and advice of the elected Delhi government”.
The government, represented by senior advocate A. M. Singhvi, said that the committee should ideally be chaired by the Chief Minister.
The petition argued that the issue of pollution required crucial remedial measures, which include utilising treated water for agriculture, horticulture, or industrial purposes, preventing waste discharge and dumping, protecting floodplain zones, maintaining dredging flow, implementing plantations, and desilting drains. These actions would take a chunk of the Delhi budget. It was necessary that the Chief Minister and the elected government were not sidelined in the decision-making on the committee.
The NGT order was based on a petition filed by Ashwani Yadav, who had highlighted the continued failure of the authorities to clean the Yamuna, which is a source of water for the national capital and its neighbouring States.
The NGT had reasoned that the involvement of multiple authorities had affected accountability and added to the confusion.
“Having multiple authorities in Delhi may be one of the reasons for not achieving success so far. There appears to be lack of ownership and accountability. Huge amount has already spent without desired results. Judicial oversight has continued for almost 29 years,” the NGT order had observed.
“If the experiment is successful in Delhi, it may help the country as a whole facing huge problem of water pollution. The Committee will be free to conduct proceedings online/hybrid as found necessary. It will also be free to undertake field visits,” the Tribunal had said.
