Government colleges, malls in Delhi slapped fines by NGT

The National Green Tribunal has imposed fines on colleges and malls in Delhi which generate huge quantity waste and fail to treat sewage for not complying with environment laws.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar imposed massive environment compensation on these erring bodies for not taking adequate protection for protection of the ecology.

The green panel imposed an environment compensation of Rs 25,000 each on Vivekananda Mahila College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and Shyam Lal College and directed them to install anti-pollution devices within three months.

In the event of default, these colleges would be liable to pay environmental compensation of Rs 5 lakh and shut down, it said.

The tribunal also slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on eastDelhi based Cross River Mall, Rs one lakh on Mahatta Towers Pvt Ltd and Rs 50,000 on Aggarwal Fun City Mall. They have been asked to deposit the amount within two weeks.

"The noticees shall rectify and carry out all the deficiencies pointed out by the inspection committee and comply with the recommendations within three months. In the event of default, they shall be liable for further environmental compensation of Rs 5 lakhs and shall be subject to closure," the bench said.

The tribunal, however, posted the matter for hearing with regard to Delhi Technological University on September 8.

The green panel had earlier issued notices to major waste generators in the city including 5-star hotels, malls, hospitals, educational institutions with hostels and housing societies which have not complied with Solid Waste Management Rules 2016.

The NGT order had come after it perused an interim report submitted by a committee set up by it which had recommended action against defaulting bodies for improper management and treatment of sewage and lack of mechanism to recycle waste.

The tribunal had constituted the committee comprising representatives of the ministries of Environment and Urban Development, Director General of Health Services, Medical Council of India, DDA, municipal corporations, the Delhi government, Central Pollution Control Board, railways and Delhi Pollution Control Committee. It also had four independent experts.

It had directed the committee to inspect all five-star hotels, hospitals which have more than 200 beds, cooperative group housing societies with over 300 flats, markets, shopping malls with built up area of over 50,000 sq mts, colleges having hostel accommodating more than 500 students in Delhi.

The green body had noted that Delhi generates nearly 14,100 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day and said that the mass generators of waste cannot be equated to a simple households generating trash.