Delhi High Court seeks action plan to stop untreated sewage flow into Yamuna

The Delhi High Court recently ordered the civic authorities in the national capital to hold a meeting with the special committee constituted on its orders and address the reasons behind the flow of untreated sewage into the Yamuna River [Court on its own Motion Vs Union of India & Ors].

A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora noted that report furnished by committee highlighted various shortcomings which must be addressed to ensure that only treated water is discharged into the river.

Therefore, it said that the officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development (DSIIDC) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) must remain present for the meeting on August 7.

"After the said meeting, the officials may agree to hold further meetings in this regard, if necessary and finally, the DJB and MCD shall file their joint report and the action plan for addressing various shortcomings, deficiencies and improvements as pointed out by the Special Committee," the Court said in the July 28 order.

The matter will be heard next on September 11.

The Court was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) initiated over the pollution in the river.

After environmental activist Pankaj Kumar alleged that a substantial amount of untreated water is being discharged into Yamuna through sewage treatment plants (STPs), the Court had constituted a special committee to conduct an on-site inspection.

On July 28, the committee filed a report after inspecting all 37 STPs. It highlighted that a lot of work needs to be done to stop untreated sewage from flowing into the river.

After examining the report, the High Court said that the same should be circulated to DJB, MCD, DSIIDC and DPCC.

The Court ordered a meeting between the members of the special committee and civil authorities to understand the steps needed to address the issue.

Central Government Standing Counsel Manish Mohan and Ripudaman Bhardwaj with advocates Jatin Teotia, Aishani Mohan, Abhay Bansal, Kushagra Kumar and Amit Kumar Rana appeared for the Union of India.

Standing Counsel Beenashaw Soni, Puja S Kalra with advocates Mansi Jain, Virendra Singh and Ann Joseph appeared for MCD.

Advocates Dhruv Rohatgi, Chandrika Sachdev and Dhruv Kumar represented the Delhi government.

Standing Counsel Deeksha L Kakkar and Prabhsahay Kaur along with advocates Rashneet Singh, Sana Parveen, Aditya Verma and Kavya Shukla appeared for Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Advocate Priyam Mehta appeared for the applicant. 

[Read order]