While taking cognisance of contamination of rivers, the top court had said that the pollution-free water is a fundamental right which a welfare state is 'bound to ensure'.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a status update from a committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to improve the water quality of Yamuna River. The apex court has asked for a report outlining the recommendations of the committee and the extent to which they have been implemented.
A monitoring committee, comprising its former expert member B S Sajwan and former Delhi chief secretary Shailaja Chandra, was set up by the NGT on July 26, 2018, to look over the cleaning of Yamuna river and had directed it to submit an action plan in this regard.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the submission of amicus curiae and senior advocate Meenakshi Arora that the NGT-appointed panel has been monitoring the cleaning of Yamuna water.
In the proceedings conducted through video conferencing, the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran, asked the committee to submit its report on recommendations made by it for improving the quality of water of Yamuna and the extent to which they have been implemented.
Earlier, the top court had taken suo motu cognizance of contamination of rivers by effluent in the country and had decided to take up the pollution of Yamuna river first.
While taking cognisance of contamination of rivers, the top court had said that the pollution-free water is a fundamental right which a welfare state is “bound to ensure”.
It had asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to submit a report identifying municipalities along the Yamuna which have not installed total treatment plants for sewage.
With PTI inputs