We will also get a damage assessment done on the basis of which penalty shall be out on the MC for damages caused.” He said, “Penal action has been taken against Ludhiana officials in the past.
We shall be filing a detailed report to the Central Pollution Control Board. In the absence of a properly functioning STP, untreated effluents are falling into Kala Sanghian. The STP has also not been paid its dues by the government for the past one year. Justice Jasbir Singh (retd) said, “Our impression is that the Basti Peerdaad STP was non-functional and was started only some time before we reached. The team observed the spot from where water from the Basti Peerdaad STP is discharged into Kala Sanghian.įinding the 50 MLD Basti Peerdaad STP not functioning as per prescribed norms and remaining non-functional due to non-payment of dues, the team said after a damage assessment, a heavy penalty shall be imposed on the MC. 2, sought concrete measures to check river pollution (Sutlej and Beas). This was the first visit of the NGT team to Jalandhar after a green panel, on Nov. The NGT monitoring committee has decided to impose a penalty on the civic body for causing heavy damage to the drain due to the non-functional STP. 2 inspected Kala Sanghian drain and Basti Peerdaad Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP). Punjab Civic body to pay for polluting drain: NGTA team of NGT Nov. But the Supreme Court, following its ruling, set aside this order and ordered that the magistrate may proceed with the complaints in accordance with law. – Some of these approached the High Court, which quashed the complaint after holding that commissioner of municipal council, chief officer of council cannot be termed as head of the department and they cannot be prosecuted under the Water Pollution Act.
The complaints stated that the officials had not only failed in setting up sewage treatment plants within the stipulated time but the accused persons have continuously been discharging the untreated sewage into the water bodies like ponds, lakes, natural valleys etc. – In 2006, the Board had filed a complaint against municipal commissioners Krishnarajapuram, Kengeri, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Mysore Road before a judicial magistrate in Bengaluru. – With the clarification of the law on this point, the bench also paved way for prosecution of at least three former municipal commissioners in Bengaluru, against whom the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had sought to initiate action. It went on to conclude that offences by body corporate like city municipal council and corporations are covered under Section 49 wherein a complaint has to be initiated by a pollution control board, treating it to be offence as by ‘company’.
– Discussing the objectives of the Act as also various other provisions, the bench noted that city municipal council and city municipal corporation are created or incorporated by the state and entrusted with the municipal functions, which includes ensuring clean environment to the residents, to control pollution. The top court noted an ambiguity in this regard for want of a precedent as to whether a municipal commissioner can be considered as head of a government department, liable to be prosecuted under the Water Pollution Act. – Clarifying the law on this point, a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan held that municipal bodies shall be deemed to be ‘body corporate’ and ‘company’ for the purposes of the Act, and that their heads could be prosecuted for polluting water. Municipal Commissioners Can be Prosecuted Under Water Pollution Law: SC Clearing the decks for action against a few former senior bureaucrats in Bengaluru, the Supreme Court has ruled that municipal commissioners and chief officers can also be prosecuted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act over pollution of water bodies in their jurisdictional areas. Can it help fix accountability of release of such untreated sewage? Can it help ensure that cities stop doing this and cities not only have adequate sewage treatment facilities, but also that cities have to ensure that the STPs function to ensure that no untreated sewage ends up the rivers and other water bodies? In a number of ways the Supreme Court order this week that the municipal commissioners and chief officers can be prosecuted for releasing untreated pollutants from the cities to the rivers and other water bodies is path breaking.
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