NGT disposes of plea against barat ghar at CWG Village

The plea alleged that the Delhi Development Authority had started work on the community hall without obtaining the mandatory environmental clearances under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 2006.

Published on: Oct 14, 2025, 05:14:17 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has disposed of a plea filed by the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of Commonwealth Games village, which claimed that a barat ghar inside the sports complex was being built without an environmental clearance. The tribunal, however, noted that no evidence of violation was presented.

The applicant’s request for a direction to the authorities to decide its representation was turned down. (HT archive)

The plea, filed by the RWA in April 2025, had alleged that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had started work on the community hall without obtaining the mandatory environmental clearances under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of 2006.

During the hearing on October 9, the bench headed by NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel observed that the applicant failed to share how the project violated environmental norms or breached prescribed limits under the act.

“When we had drawn the attention of the counsel for the applicant to the requirement of the EIA Notification dated September 14, 2006, he could not point out any pleading indicating that the alleged construction is in excess of the limit,” the October 9 order mentioned.

The applicant’s request for a direction to the authorities to decide its representation was also turned down. “Unless some prima facie violation of environmental norm is pointed out, such a direction need not be issued,” the bench said, stating it found no ground to entertain the plea.

The CWG village complex was built ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games along the Yamuna river near Akshardham. There are over 1,100 flats in the area, spread across 34 towers and was developed by the DDA. The complex has fully connected internal roads and landscaped greens and includes a sports and recreation zone, among other facilities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More

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