BENGALURU: The High Court on Thursday stayed all further proceedings in the Bellandur lake case before the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi. The division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar also stayed the KSPCB’s directions to agencies like Bescom to disconnect electricity, BWSSB to disconnect UGD and water supply and BBMP to cancel the trade licence, etc., to the distillery unit.
On April 19, the NGT had directed the civic agencies to clean the lake within a month, not to allow apartments to let waste into lake and take steps to close all industries in Bellandur catchment area for discharging effluents into the lake. The agencies began work to remove weeds and took steps to shut industries. The petitioner contended that the NGT passed an order seeking to close only those industries in the catchment area of Bellandur lake that are discharging effluents but blanket orders were issued to close all industries.
It added that the joint inspection carried out by the KSPCB on May 16 will reveal that the distillery unit was neither drawing water from the lake nor discharging effluents into it. It said the spot mahazar noted that the unit has set up a sewage treatment plant and that the discharge from the unit is treated therein. Therefore, a representation was submitted to KSPCB seeking revocation of its closure order but it was not carried out.
‘Karnataka falls under Southern Bench’
The petitioner said going by the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, all matters relating to Karnataka fall within the jurisdiction of Southern bench, Chennai. Therefore, the order passed by the Principal Bench of NGT in New Delhi is one without jurisdiction and liable to be set aside.