Uttarakhand High Court orders CAG audit of all schemes to clean Ganga

NAINITAL: Taking a strong view of alleged irregularities in the use of funds allocated to clean the Ganga, Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Friday while disposing of a PIL in this regard, ordered a special audit to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of “all centrally-financed schemes launched to rejuvenate river Ganga as well as the amount spent by the state governments for the river’s rejuvenation.” The HC also ordered the CAG report to be submitted to the President of India within six months.The order had been reserved by the division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh on November 9 and was delivered on Friday. The PIL had been filed by Lalit Miglani, an advocate in the high court.
Pointing out the urgent need for immediate steps to protect the river, the judges said that they “cannot direct the legislature to frame the laws, but since, there is an emergency to protect the river Ganga from extinction, the Court can, at least make a suggestion to the Union of India to make a national law to protect river Ganga.”
The HC also directed the Union government to “constitute an inter-state council under Article 263 of the Constitution of India for all the riparian states through which river Ganga flows i.e. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal, within a period of three months from today.” “The council shall make recommendations to the central government within a period of three months after its constitution. The central government shall consider the same within a further period of three months and take necessary measures to restore river Ganga to its pristine glory,” the order said.
The court directed the Uttarakhand Environment Protection & Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) to take action against 180 industries, to whom show cause notices had been issued in 2015-16. An immediate closure of around 106 industries within the vicinity of the river -- which had been already served notices but failed to comply -- was also ordered by the court. In addition, the HC directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga to “accord sanction of Rs 266.09 crore, as per the detailed project report sent to it by the State Programme Management Group (SPMG) within a period of six weeks from today.” “The funds shall be used exclusively by the Uttarkhand Peyjal Nigam for interception and diversion of leftover drains for existing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), new STPs and other effluent works at Haridwar,” the HC said. It also directed the state government to enhance the capacity of STPs at Haridwar and Rishikesh within three months besides ordering the installation of STPs “of appropriate capacity” at all the 21 hydroelectric projects located in the mainstream of the river.
The Uttarakhand government was further directed by the court to take appropriate action against UEPPCB within six months since it had “failed to discharge its statutory duties under the State Act.” In addition, the court ordered the state government to declare “River Conservation Zones” where “no construction activity should be permitted on the banks of river Ganga from the highest flood plain by private as well as governmental agencies.”
The division bench also made it clear that the ashrams at Haridwar would be ordered to be sealed and closed down in case untreated sewage is permitted by them to flow in the Ganga directly without treatment. The court proposed imposing a fine of Rs 5000 on those found littering/urinating/defecating in open on the banks of river Ganga as well as directed that in order to safeguard the environment, there shall be “a total ban of sale, use and storage of plastic carry bags throughout Uttarakhand with effect from January 1, 2017.”