Reconsider fee structure for granting consent, green court directs DPCC

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to reconsider its entire fee structure for granting consent to operate industrial plants, including hotels and restaurants.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said that as per Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, the fee which is to be charged has to be determined by the state government and not the pollution control board.

The green panel directed the DPCC to get the whole fee structure approved by the competent authority in the Delhi government before notifying such rates and the date from which such fee would be applicable.

“We dispose of this application with a direction to the DPCC to reconsider the entire fee structure and its approval from the competent authority in the Government of NCT Delhi before notifying such rates and the date from which such fee will be applicable,” the bench observed. It also noted, “Nobody has jurisdiction except Parliament alone, to exempt any class of industry to which the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 would not be applicable. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has no jurisdiction to exempt. However, the process of grant of consent can be defined by the Board in exercise of its powers.”

The direction came as the NGT disposed of a plea filed by Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association challenging the powers of DPCC to fix and charge consent fee without any notification.

The petitioner, an association of guest house owners, contended that guest houses and hotels were separate entities and the former did not have any kitchen or restaurants inside.

It had opposed DPCC’S demand for a consent fee for the past 15 years from these establishments and pointed out that the fee had been raised by nearly 100 times.

The association had also submitted that there was no requirement of consent under the Water and Air Act for setting up of a guest house.

As per the Water Act 1974 and Air Act 1981, it is mandatory to obtain Consent to Operate (CTO) from respective state pollution control board prior to the commencement of the production activities.

All the 13 traffic courts, which have a pendency of over 55,000 cases in the national capital, have been abolished by the Delhi High Court with effect from on Monday.

These pending traffic rule violation cases would now be taken up as regular matters by regular magisterial courts.

Court sources said the decision was taken in view of several complaints from some of the magistrates posted in the traffic courts for a long time.

The sources, most of them associated with the administrative function of the courts, said these magistrates had expressed their desire to be brought into the mainstream magisterial work and sought a change in their profile.

However, the official reason for the decision has been attributed to efforts to bring about more transparency in the judicial system and make traffic-related cases more litigant- friendly by shifting them to regular courts. All the traffic courts are located in the six districts courts of Delhi.

Registrar General of Delhi High Court, Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal has decided to abolish these 13 courts to facilitate litigants and ease the rush due to which they were facing difficulties.

“Cases of traffic challans were concentrated in one court per district which was causing delay in disposal of cases.

“Now, these cases will proceed in regular magisterial courts as regular matters to ensure their early disposal,” he said.

“The move is aimed at making the system more transparent and more efficient,” Sharma said.

He added that the judicial officers of these traffic courts have been transferred to regular magisterial courts.

As per the official data available on the courts website, as on July 1, 2017, there are over 12000, 2200, 5500, 3900, 7300 cases pending in traffic courts of five districts-- Central, West, New Delhi, South and South East-- respectively.

The traffic challan cases of Central and West districts, which fell under Tis Hazari district court, would be assigned to four and three magistrates respectively.

Similarly, in Saket district court, the challan cases of South and South East districts will be distributed to four and seven magistrates respectively.

While four magistrates of Patiala House Court will try the challan cases of New Delhi district, six magistrates will do so in Dwarka district court for South West district.

The work of two abolished traffic courts in East and North East districts would be taken up by two and three magistrates respectively in Karkardooma district court.

In the Rohini district court, the cases would be distributed between five and six magistrates of North West and North Delhi district.