Justice Swatanter Kumar retires: Here are some of the orders passed by NGT under him

Justice Kumar said, “Unlike today, environmental cases at that time neither involved such complex questions of law nor were they contested with such vehemence. Even the regulatory authorities were not so effective in enforcement of environmental laws. The obvious reason could be that the environment had not degraded to the present limits and threat to public health was not of the present magnitude.”

Lawyers take selfies with Justice Swatanter Kumar in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

Here are some of his orders and judgments passed by NGT under him

AIR POLLUTION (Justice Kumar slams Delhi govt)
Every newspaper has been carrying headlines that the air pollution was going to be higher this week. Still you took no action. Even the players were playing the match wearing masks. You should have not held the match if the air quality was so bad. Are people of Delhi supposed to bear this?

Ban on construction activities in Delhi/NCR: The onset of winter witnessed a stern ruling from the NGT. Justice Swatanter Kumar prohibited all construction activities in the capital in order to curb the the sheet of smog, which enveloped the entire city. The Delhi authorities were pulled up by Justice Kumar, when the interim ban was not observed in parts of the city.

“Why don’t you pass directions to stop construction and industrial activities for a month? What are you waiting for? Are courts your local guardians? What are you doing to the children? Old people are not able to walk.”

Odd-even scheme: The continuous dip in the level of air pollution convinced the NGT to rerun the the year-old order of the odd-even scheme. The odd-even rule was implemented by the AAP government, which entailed private vehicles to run across the city based on their registration numbers. This year’s ban proposed by the Delhi government introduced a prohibition on two-wheelers as well. The direction was opposed by authorities as well. On this, Justice Kumar said, “When reports have stated that two-wheelers are more polluting than four-wheelers, why do you intend to give arbitrary exemptions? Is this a joke? What does one stand to gain from this?”

Ban on waste burning: In the first month of the year, Justice Kumar-led panel put an absolute ban on waste burning in open places including landfill sites. In case of violation, the bench imposed a penalty of Rs. 5,000 for simple burning and Rs. 25,000 for bulk waste burning.

Ban on vintage cars: In 2014, NGT imposed a ban on cars, which were 15 years old aiming to bring down the levels of air pollution. Over 10,000 classic and vintage cars in the country, from 1886 to 1987, were pulled off the roads after the ban came into effect. Recently Justice Kumar lifted the ban permanently, allowing the vintage cars to ply on roads for exhibitions, rallies and maintenance.

WATER POLLUTION

Ganga rejuvenation: In its focus to rejuvenate Ganga, NGT declared the river as ‘No Development Zone’, an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao. The 543-page judgment also prohibited dumping of waste within 500 metres from Ganga and in-stream mechanical mining. A complete ban on the disposal of municipal solid waste, e-waste and bio-medical waste on the floodplains or into the river and its tributaries was imposed as well. The tribunal also put a penalty Rs. 50,000 in case of violation.

“Even after spending Rs 7304.64 crores upto March, 2017, by the Central Government, State Government and local authorities of the State of UP, the status of river Ganga has not improved in terms of quality or otherwise and it continues to be a serious environmental issue,” the panel said.

Yamuna floodplains: NGT slapped a fine of Rs. 5 crore on Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living Foundation on March 9, 2016, for tampering with the floodplains while destroying the natural flow of the river, reeds, grasses, natural vegetation on the river bed.

“For the damage caused to the environment, ecology, biodiversity and aquatic life of the river, the Foundation should be held liable for its restoration in all respects. In that regard and in exercise of our powers under Sections 15 and 17 of the NGT Act, 2010 we impose an Environmental Compensation, initially of Rs. 5 crores,” Justice Kumar said.

Ban on Plastic: Terming Okhla, Gazipur and Bhalswa “a depiction of mess”, the principal bench of NGT headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar put a ban on the use of disposable plastic items last year, which took effect from January 1, 2017. The bench recognised these three places as dumping sites of Delhi and directed that an environment penalty of Rs. 10,000 would be imposed on vegetable vendors and slaughterhouses if they throw garbage in open spaces.

Further on January 13, the principal bench passed another order on similar lines, banning the sale, purchase and storage of plastic bags or plastic items along the river Ganga in Haridwar and Rishikesh. The bench also said that flouting the ban would invite a fine of Rs. 5000.

NOISE POLLUTION 
Noisy take-offs and landing at Delhi airport: Along with a slew of directions, the Civil Aviation Ministry was directed to erect a green belt around the airport’s boundary wall and to convert all non-CNG buses/coaches or vehicles plying on the airport into CNG within six months.