Commercial buildings cannot be developed on waste management sites: NGT

The tribunal also observed that waste management in the national capital is "pitiable" and citizens are facing worst air pollution and authorities have to provide land for waste management before considering use of available sites for commercial purposes. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said “There is no explanation why suddenly there is occasion for such application to seek review of order which has attained finality." “There is no viable alternative offered.

The National Green Tribunal Friday rejected a plea filed by Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) seeking a review of its order that commercial buildings cannot be developed on sites available for waste management, saying there was no merit in the application. The tribunal also observed that waste management in the national capital is "pitiable" and citizens are facing the worst air pollution and authorities have to provide land for waste management before considering the use of available sites for commercial purposes.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said "There is no explanation why suddenly there is an occasion for such application to seek review of order which has attained finality." "There is no viable alternative offered. The condition of waste management is in Delhi is pitiable as mountains of un-remediated garbage is a hard reality, though citizens of Delhi are facing worst air pollution," the bench also comprising Justice S P Wangdi said. The tribunal said the matter is to be sorted out at the level of Chief Secretary and the Lieutenant Governor who have to provide land for waste management before considering the use of available sites for commercial purposes.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by DSIIDC for the vacation of the order dated December 14, 2017, in a decided matter dealing with the enforcement of solid waste management rules. According to the Applicant, the direction needs to be vacated as the applicant has got a layout plan approved for setting up a multilevel manufacturing hub as per the MPD-2021 on a plot identified for the sanitary landfill site. The Tribunal had directed that the availability of land for waste management is a necessity, commercial buildings are not developed on available sites for waste management. "The Chief Secretary of NCT Delhi or the Lieutenant Governor, if the Lieutenant Governor so desires, shall hold a meeting within two weeks from today and consider the list of the sites submitted by the Corporation, the site of DSIIDC, and the site of NTPC at Badarpur Thermal Plant as well.

"The sites would be selected while taking a comprehensive approach and keeping in mind the siting criteria prescribed under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016," the NGT had said in its order. Till the sites are earmarked and finalized for being utilized for management of solid municipal waste in Delhi including setting up of a landfill site, composting, RDF plant, and Waste to Energy Plant, all the authorities including Delhi Development Authority, DSIIDC, Corporation shall not place or award work for building up of any commercial building in the lands which have been referred to for the site, the NGT had said in its 2017 order.