Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (March 31, 2023)

Ambient air quality in the Indo-Gangetic plain

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on March 27, 2023 issued a set of directions to control ambient air quality in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) states and Union Territories. The NGT took into consideration a joint committee report on the issue. 

These included the following: 

• The report of the joint committee be hosted on the website of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and circulated by the CPCB to pollution control boards or pollution control committees in IGP states and UTs within a fortnight
• The vulnerable districts mentioned in the report should be listed as ‘air quality sensitive districts’ and polluting sources operating in these districts be closely monitored. 
  Modified consent to operate should be granted acording to operational restrictions in the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This should include requirements like switching over to cleaner fuel and adopting efficient air pollution control devices with a definite time frame not exceeding six months
• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India (MoEF&CC) and CPCB should enforce the requirement of cleaner fuel, switching over to efficient air pollution control technologies, enforcement of GRAP and vigilance measures to control other pollution sources like dust control, vehicular pollution and the like under the National Clean Air Program and require city and district-specific action plans within six months by identified authorities/joint committees
• MoEF&CC and CPCB need to further assess the status in different areas after review of daily and annual ambient air quality data and take remedial measures within six months.

The NGT directed the CPCB to hold a meeting with all ministries concerned, departments, states, Union Territories and other stakeholders within three months to prepare a roadmap for implementing the recommendations. 

A joint committee comprising the MoEF&CC; CPCB; Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board; district magistrate; Mukesh Khare, professor at IIT Delhi; Mukesh Sharma, professor at IIT Kanpur and Shiva Nagendran, professor at IIT Chennai had filed its report dated January 30, 2023 to the NGT.

In view of air pollution in the IGP, development activities can be only with advanced technology and management interventions, particularly during October and November.

The list of hotspot districts mentioned in the report within IGP region included Aligarh, Kanpur, Faridabad, Gurgaon, New Delhi, Sirsa, South West Delhi, Firozpur and Bardhhaman among others.

Groundwater extraction for maintenance of cricket playgrounds

The NGT, on March 28, directed the secretary for the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti to file a status report on the regulation of groundwater extraction for the maintenance of cricket playgrounds within two months.

An application had been filed in the NGT against the failure of the Ministry of Jal Shakti to comply with the directions of the NGT dated April 15, 2021.

The 2021 order by NGT had directed the Jal Shakti secretary to hold a joint meeting with nominees of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, representatives of BCCI and the CPCB to consider prohibiting the use of groundwater for maintenance of playgrounds when the matches were not being played.

Instead, treated water from sewage treatment plants should be utilised, rainwater harvesting in all playgrounds should be ensured and experts should be engaged for every cricket stadium, the tribunal had recommended. Sports events should be used for awareness of environmental protection. 

Failure to prevent the usage of groundwater for playgrounds is to the detriment of access to potable water for drinking, particularly in drought-prone areas that are classified as dark zones, the applicant had submitted. 

Oil spill along the coast of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu

NGT directed the constitution of a joint committee to see whether any remedial measures are required to contain the water damage due to an oil spill incident in Tamil Nadu along the coast in Nagapattinam district. The incident took place March 2, 2023.

The leak took place from a nine-kilometre-long 50.8-centimetre diameter pipeline from Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) CBR crude storage tanks at Nagapattinam to Karaikal Port.

The joint committee will comprise CPCB, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, District Magistrate, Nagapattinam, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services and National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management.

The first meeting of the joint committee has to be convened within two weeks and proceedings concluded within two months, the order said. In particular, the committee will undertake a safety audit and examine the pipeline in question to determine whether the crack was due to corrosion due to non-maintenance.