NGT gives Art of Living one week to respond to expert panel report

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Monday gave the Art of Living Foundation a week to submit its response to the probe committee report that said the three-day

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Monday gave the Art of Living Foundation a week to submit its response to the probe committee report that said the three-day World Culture Festival in March “completely destroyed” the Yamuna floodplain.

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A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar passed the direction while hearing a petition filed by the foundation that sought three more weeks to submit its response to the expert committee’s report.

The foundation’s counsel claimed the committee members had drawn “unfounded conclusions without giving any substantial proof ”.

“From the averments made in the application, there is hardly any ground for extension of time. We grant one week’s time for filing response. Reply be positively filed by September 12,” the bench said on Monday, while posting the matter for September 28.

The green court termed the public statements made by Art of Living as “very irresponsible”.

“The statements which your client had made were very irresponsible. The media reports clearly stated what your client has said. What your client has done is very irresponsible,” a bench headed by Kumar told the Art of Living counsel.

The tribunal had directed a seven-member expert committee headed by Shashi Shekhar, secretary in the ministry of water resources, senior scientists and experts from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, IIT-Delhi and other agencies to inspect the site.

Earlier this month, the committee in its 47-page report had observed that entire floodplain area used for the main event site, located between DND flyover and the Barapulla drain (on the bank of river Yamuna) “has been completely destroyed, not simply damaged”.

The NGT has already levied ` 5 crore as environmental compensation on the foundation.