Noida: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought replies from seven respondents — including three district magistrates and a senior superintendent of police (SSP) — impleading them in a hearing on sand mining along Yamuna.The NGT hearing in the case had begun following a news report, ‘Sand miners lay a road across Yamuna’, published in TOI on Nov 30, 2024.The bench comprising judicial member Justice Arun Tyagi and expert members Dr Afroz Ahmad and Dr A Senthil Vel impleaded DMs of Baghpat, GB Nagar and Outer North Delhi besides commissioners of police, GB Nagar, Delhi and Ghaziabad and Baghpat SSP as respondents, directing them to file their respective responses at least one day before the next date of hearing on Sept 15.The tribunal had completed hearing the arguments and reserved its order on May 8. However, after examining the material on record, the bench considered it necessary to conduct further hearing and to implead additional authorities whose presence was considered necessary for “proper adjudication of the matter”.The tribunal said, “We are also of the considered view that some material aspects of the case — particularly regarding formation of joint task force by Uttar Pradesh, quarterly meetings of the JTF, joint patrolling, uploading of the complete information including minutes of the meetings and mining in inter-state area on the website, and action taken by the commissioners of police, Ghaziabad, Delhi and GB Nagar and senior superintendent of police, Baghpat for prevention of illegal mining — weren’t referred to at the time of arguments and the matter requires further hearing for due elucidation/consideration of the same. Therefore, it will be appropriate that the matter is re-listed for further hearing.”Hearing the matter on earlier dates, the tribunal made it clear that mere exchange of information between officials was insufficient to protect the environment. The tribunal observed that simply sending letters about illegal sand mining did not fulfil the objective of environmental protection and called for a more proactive approach from district magistrates.While hearing the matter on Oct 10 last year, the tribunal had asked chief secretary of Delhi to nominate officials for the new joint task force, which will work alongside their UP counterparts.The task force was tasked with holding joint meetings, conducting field visits to sites where illegal mining is reported, and preparing detailed reports on action taken to prevent further violations.The reports, along with minutes of meetings, were supposed to be filed with the tribunal and uploaded to the websites of relevant district magistrates and state govts, ensuring transparency and public accountability.The tribunal, however, observed that these directions were not followed in letter and spirit and disposal of the matter at this stage might jeopardise the objective of the case taken up by the tribunal suo motu way back in 2024.
