'Only Treated Water Must Be Discharged Into Yamuna River': Delhi High Court Seeks Action Plan From DJB, MCD

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to file a joint report highlighting the action plan to be undertaken by them to overcome the shortcomings highlighted by a special committee on the issue of discharge of water from all sewage treatment plants (STPs) into the Yamuna River.

A division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora perused a report filed by the Special Committee and said that enormous amount of work needs to be undertaken by civic agencies in the national capital to ensure that only treated water is discharged in the river.

“A brief perusal of the report itself would show that there is an enormous quantum of work that needs to be undertaken in order to ensure that only treated water is discharged to the river Yamuna,” the Bench said.

The Court said that the agencies that need to look into the entire matter, including the report of the Special Committee, were Delhi Jal Board, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd and Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

It observed that a substantial amount of work was undertaken by the Special Committee, while also adding that various various shortcomings needed to be addressed and certain further elaborate steps were required to be taken.

The Court thus directed the members of the Special Committee to hold a meeting with all the above agencies on August 07, which shall be attended by the relevant officials of DJB, MCD, DSIIDC as also the DPCC, as also any other authorities or agencies whose cooperation would be required.

“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.

The court was dealing with a suo motu PIL initiated by it in 2022 over lack of rainwater harvesting efforts taken by the authorities and huge traffic snarls, especially during monsoon.

On May 05, the Bench had constituted the Special Committee to conduct onsite inspection of all the 37 STPs.

Previously, the Court had observed its prima facie view that the Sewage Treatment Plants in the national capital were not functioning as per required norms and are releasing raw sewage in Yamuna river.

It had also rapped the civic authorities over the issue of water-logging and said that the drainage system here is “totally pathetic” and is in “very bad state of affairs.”

The suo motu PIL was initiated after the court took note of an article published in the Times of India on June 18, 2022.

Case Title: COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION v. GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS

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