"NGT Demands Answers Over Pond-Based Academic Institutes in Amroha"

The National Green Tribunal has sought responses from two schools and two institutes in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha district regarding their establishment on water body land. Notices were issued to the district magistrate and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board in March. Allegedly, construction permission was obtained through fabricated documents. The matter is scheduled for August 30.

The National Green Tribunal has sought responses from two schools and two institutes in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha district in a matter regarding the institutions being set up on a water body land.

In March, the green panel issued notices to the district magistrate and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board in the matter.

According to the petition, the nature of the land, which was recorded as a water body, could not be changed. It also alleged that the permission for construction was obtained by fabricating certain documents. In an order passed on May 15, a bench of National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted the district magistrate's report, which, citing old land records, said the land parcel was recorded as a pond.

The bench, also comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member Afroz Ahmad, impleaded as respondents or parties the four educational institutions -- Rashida Begum Muslim Vidhyalaya, Mesco Public School, Mesco Institute of Pharmacy and Mesco Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Science -- in the district's Dhanaura Road area.

''Let notice be issued to the newly added respondents for filing their response,'' the tribunal said.

The matter has been posted to August 30.