Of legal battles and individual initiative
BEFORE the multi-crare GAP was off the blocks, Supreme Court advocate MC Mehta had approached the apex court to slop the appalling pollution of the Ganga by the municipalities and industries along its banks.
Mehta first requested the Supreme Court on April 29, 1985, to direct can. carried industries to stop discharging untreated effluents into the river. He also wanted municipalities discharging sewage into the river to be identified and asked to set up treatment plants.
On September 22, 1987, the first Supreme Court judgement directed all tanneries to set up primary treatment plants. Twenty-nine defaulting tanneries in Kanpur were shut down. Mehta, subsequently, informed the court there were 157 tanneries contaminating the. river. All of them were directed by the court to set up treatment plants which led to the closing down of another 49 tanneries.
Molita's further submission, that the court's orders were not being complied with, led to the setting up of a three-member committee to look into the matter. Said Mettle, "It was the court's initiative and concern that led to tanneries setting up treatment plants. The GPD, the pollution control boards and the municipal authorities were mute spectators." He cited the instance of dry effluents and sludge from tanneries not being removed as the Kanpur municipality and the tanneries could not agree on removal costs. The court stepped in once again on May 8, 1991, asking both parties to reach a decision within three weeks.
On December 16, 1991, the MEF issued an order asking all industrial units in the country to comply with the standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants by December 31, 1992. Later, the ministry granted the industries another year. When Melds raised the matter in the Supreme Court, justices N M Kasliwal and K Ramaswarny issued a show cause notice to the MEF for issuing a notification contravening the court's orders. The court also asked the MEF on April 21, 1992, to ensure that a committee be set up to examine emission and effluent standards.
Meanwhile, the scope. of the case was widened to include all industries along the Gangs banks discharging effluents into the river. The court then decided to split the case into rive categories: tanneries, distilleries, sugar industries, paper and pulp industries and others. In their recent judgement of August 4, 1992, the two justices said it was tint possible for the court to identify industries discharging effluents "directly or indirectly" into the Gangs and directed the chiefs of pollution control boards in the three states to furnish a list of polluting industries within two months. The court has also asked the three chiefs to be present at the next hearing on October 20.
"Though some industries have been disciplined because of Supreme Court judgements, the reluctance of government agencies and often their collusion with the defaulters has slowed the progress at times," contends Mehta.