Relief for Delhi’s budget hotels as NGT stays pollution board’s shutdown notice

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee had sent closure notice to budget hotels that run without proper effluent and sewage treatment plants.

The National Green Tribunal on Friday stayed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee shutdown notices to small hotels running without kitchen or laundry.

Almost 350 of budget hotels in the city have been sent closure notices again by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee because of absence of proper effluent and sewage treatment plants. (HT FILE)

A vacation bench of Justice UD Salvi and expert member PC Mishra issued the order while hearing a petition filed by Delhi Hotel & Restaurant Owner’s Association.

Almost 350 of budget hotels in the city have been sent closure notices again by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee because of absence of proper effluent and sewage treatment plants.

They had been given some extra time, till the end of this month,to comply and prevent shutdown by Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain. However, the hotels and guest house owners demanded complete exemption for establishments without kitchen.

“Guest houses have not been categorised by the Central Pollution Control Board. That needs to be done first. And when categorised, they should be under ‘non polluting’ category as these small establishments neither have kitchen nor laundry. This is by definition of the Master Plan,” advocate IK Kapila, who represented the hotel owners’ body, told HT.

According to him, the green court stayed the shutdown notice only for establishments without kitchen and laundry and the matter will be heard next on July 21.

There are around 1,500 budget hotels in Delhi, most of which are located in Paharganj, Karol Bagh and Mahipalpur. Most of these don’t have consent to establish (CTE) or consent to operate (CTO), which are mandatory to run hotels in Delhi. CTE is the first step for any industry or trade to begin operations and the permission is given within four months of it being applied for. The CTO is given by the DPCC. This permission is a mandatory part of the process in place for ensuring that water and air are not polluted. However, these hotels didn’t have the required permission.

The DPCC notice says if they (hotel owners) failed to comply, power and water supplies will be snapped. Delhi Police and the health department of the North corporation have been asked to cancel the licences of these establishments.

The notices asked the individual owners to submit compliance reports under section 33A of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and section 31A of Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, within 15 days.