[Yamuna River Contamination] Supreme Court Directs Maintenance Of Status Quo On Water Supply To Delhi

The Supreme Court led Bench by Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna & Justice V Subramanian on Friday has directed for the status quo to be maintained with regards to water supply to Delhi.

“We don't have time to hear the matter today. We passed an order of status quo. We will want to continue that order for a long time. We want the status quo to be maintained” , CJI ordered.

Sr Adv Vikas Singh informed the Bench that the water was now below six feet.

Sr Adv Mr Shyam Divan appearing for the State of Haryana submitted that the water supply was not even reduced by an inch.

CJI: This means that you have heard our order “Religiously”.

In the present matter, the Bench was hearing the fresh Intervention application that was filed by Delhi Jal Board praying for direction to be issued to the Haryana government to release the water to avert severe crisis in the State of NCT of Delhi along with the petition that was filed in connection with the increased ammonia levels in Yamuna due to the discharge of pollutants.

In the connected matters, The Top court had appointed Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Senior Advocate as amicus curiae in the present matter. Necessary directions were also issued to the Central Pollution Control Board.

The matter(s) will now be heard on Tuesday after the reopening of the Court after Holi Break.

The court was also hearing its suo motu case titled "IN RE: Remediation of River Pollutants".

Earlier, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati had informed Supreme Court that Delhi was one of the most habitual offenders so far as Yamuna Pollutants were concerned. She added that a status report to this effect will be filed before the next date of hearing.

In January, while hearing the petition related to increased ammonia levels in Yamuna [Delhi Jal Board v. State of Haryana] due to discharge of pollutants, Top Court issued direction to register a suo motu petition viz. contamination of river water, due to improper waste disposal.

Court said, “Open surface water resources including rivers are lifeline of human civilization. In olden days, almost all the human settlements were at the bank of some river as it provided for an array of utilities such as portable water, irrigation, food, livelihood, transportation, etc. Every civilization including ours, has shown great amount of gratitude to these life creating resources.”

Acknowledging the duty of State to ensure healthy and safe environment, Court placed reliance on Article 47, Article 48, Article 243W of the Constitution, along with the observation made by the Supreme Court in Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India, (2000) 10 SCC 664, in the words, “Water is the basic need for the survival of human beings and is part of the right to Life and human rights as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and can be served only by providing source of water where there is none. The resolution of UNO in 1977 to which India is a signatory, during the United Nations Water Conference resolved unanimously inter alia as: All the people, whatever their stage of development and their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantum and of a quality equal to their basic needs”

Taking into consideration the points raised by the present petition, Court said that although the mandate of law is quite clear; of setting up sewage treatment plants and stoppage of sewage effluents in surface water but on inspection it is often discovered that either the sewage is not treated through a plant before being discharged or the treatment plants are wholly incapacitated.

Directions

• Issue registration of suo moto writ petition (civil) with regard to ‘Remediation of polluted rivers’
• Issuance of notice to State of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Secretary, Ministry of Envt., Forest and Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India
• Issuance of notice to Central Pollution Control Board to submit a report identifying municipalities along the river Yamuna which have not installed total treatment plants for sewage as per requirement or have gaps in ensuring that the sewage is not discharged untreated into the river. CPCB may also highlight any other source of prominent contamination within the limits of Municipalities. It shall also submit priority-wise list of Municipalities, river stretches adjacent to which have been found to be most polluted.
• Appointment of Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Senior Advocate, as Amicus Curiae in the present matter.
• Suo Moto petition shall not dilute any directions issued by the lower court or tribunal.

Case Title: Delhi Jal Board v. State of Haryana| WP(C): 8 of 2021 & In Re Remediation Of Polluted Rivers SMW(C) No. 1/2021