Narmada River Pollution: NGT asks principal secretary and other dignitaries to appear in person

The principal bench of the NGT has ordered the personal appearance of the Principal Secretary, Vice Chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, Bhopal, and other top Madhya Pradesh officials in the Narmada River pollution case.

According to the bench of Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi (Judicial Member) and Dr. Afroz Ahmad (Expert Member),

“The proceedings before this Tribunal cannot be treated as part of adversarial litigation where the concerned respondents/defendants may opt out to remain absent and suffer ex-parte proceedings. On the other hand, the State and its instrumentalities are under constitutional and statutory obligations to ensure compliance with environmental norms and, therefore, the State and its instrumentalities have to ensure submission of their replies/response with relevant details and also their representation through duly authorised representatives/Counsel before this Tribunal”.

The Tribunal stated that because the State of Madhya Pradesh and its instrumentalities have not appeared before it or responded to the notices served on them, it deems it necessary to notify the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The Tribunal directed them to issue appropriate instructions to ensure compliance with the Tribunal’s notices, submission of replies, and representation before the Tribunal through their authorized representative, as required.

The NGT has further directed to issue notices to the Respondent state and authorities, again requiring them to file their replies within three months.

An application was filed by Samayak Jain (& Others) raising concerns about serious damage to the environment of River Narmada in Dindori, Madhya Pradesh.

According to the applicants, funds worth crores of rupees have been sanctioned and released, but the authorities have failed to prevent the discharge of untreated sewage/drain water into the Narmada river.

The applicants had asked the Tribunal to issue several orders against the state of Madhya Pradesh and local authorities, including a prohibition on the discharge of untreated sewage into the river and a prohibition on tree cutting along the river’s banks.

In September 2022, the Tribunal considered environmental allegations in applications arising from the implementation of the enactments listed in Schedule I to the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. In light of the allegations made in the application, the NGT formed a Joint Committee to investigate the facts.

However, if the respondents failed to file a response, the tribunal ordered them to do so within three months.

The matter is scheduled for further consideration on 9 August, 2023.