Lack of green clearance for Sushant Lok-1 under NGT lens
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Haryana government to investigate possible collusion of officials of the state pollution control board and the department of town and country planning (DTCP) with the developer of Sushant Lok-1, which was built without environmental clearance. The project violated several norms — not providing rainwater harvesting system, extracting groundwater illegally, discharging sewage in stormwater drain and operating diesel generator sets without any safeguard, the NGT said.
The tribunal also took umbrage over the fact that the promoter, Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), had failed to pay environmental compensation of ₹16.729 crore, despite an order passed on January 8, 2019.
In its order dated February 5, the NGT bench has also directed the chief secretary of Haryana, to explore whether the matter needs to be entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), for an investigation of the violations and to fix the responsibility of the officials concerned.
The NGT order stated, “We require the chief secretary, Haryana, to suggest the mechanism for enforcement of rule of law and also to prevent such illegalities in the state. The chief secretary may explore action against the collusion by the concerned officers of the State PCB, the Town and Country Planning Department or other state authorities for their failures mentioned above, including the officers who agreed for insignificant compensation of one lac by way of plea bargaining in spite of conviction for serious offence. In this regard, action of blacklisting, attaching available assets of the defaulting builder may also be considered, apart from other coercive measures (sic).”
The NGT has also asked the government to prepare a mitigation plan for the project and submit it to the court during the next hearing, on April 17.
The directions were issued on the petition filed by a colony resident, Parveen Kakkar, in NGT last year. He had submitted that a large portion of land meant for green cover had been sold as plots by the developer.
Sushant Lok-1 was developed by APIL over an area of 604 acres in sectors 27, 28, 43 and 52, on the basis of licences issued to the company by DTCP from 1985 to 2011.
As per the green court, the project was developed without the necessary environment clearance from the environment ministry. Also, the department of town and country planning had violated rules in granting a licence and later, giving a partial completion certificate to the project. A five-member expert committee constituted by the tribunal had also noted at least 10 counts of environmental law violations last year.
“It is patent that the project has been built up illegally without any EC and without any consent under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. It is a matter of great surprise how the Town and Country Planning Department, Haryana, granted licence or a part completion certificate, ignoring serious violations,” the NGT order stated.
On January 8, 2019, the NGT had directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to determine and recover damages and issue directions for closure of the project. On February 28, 2019, the CPCB asked the developer to pay environmental compensation of ₹14.69 crore for discharging untreated sewage for almost a year. It was also asked to pay compensation for extracting ground water and operating illegal borewells.
A spokesperson for APIL, however, said that the matter was subjudice and they had approached the apex court in this matter. “We will not comment in this matter as it is under consideration of the court,” he said.
KM Pandurang, director, DTCP, said that this matter was being examined and facts are being scrutinized. “Appropriate action would be taken after considering the facts,” he said.
Keshni Anand Arora, chief secretary, Haryana did not respond, despite repeated calls and messages.
Yatish Kumar Goel, advocate for the petitioner said, “There are serious violations that have occurred in execution of the project and these need to be investigated. The development without environmental clearance and diversion of green spaces need to be probed,” he said.
Officials of the pollution board did not respond to requests for comment.
