Non-compliance of orders: MC chief told to appear before NGT on Feb 17
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ludhiana MC Commissioner to appear before the tribunal on February 17 for non-compliance of the orders of removing encroachments from the green belt.
The NGT has also issued show-cause notices to the MC Commissioner, CEO, Ludhiana Smart City Limited, Deputy Commissioner and Chairman, Improvement Trust, Ludhiana, to show cause as to why action be not taken against them and also asked them to file a compliance report at least three days before the next date of hearing fixed.
The Tribunal in its final orders, dated July 4, 2024, had directed the Municipal Corporation to remove illegal structures and encroachments from green belts situated at Sarabha Nagar and Model Town Extension.
The time given by the tribunal was of two months but the corporation submitted the compliance report without removing the structures completely.
Photographs attached with the report submitted by the MC was clearly depicting that the orders have not been complied in true spirit by the MC Commissioner. Taking cognisance of the same, the Registrar General reopened the case and matter was heard on January 13.
Engineers Kapil Arora and Vikas Arora, petitioners in the case, said they appeared in person at the impugned scrap yard, which had not been demolished till date by the corporation. Further, commercial outlets which had been sealed by the MC earlier are again operational in the green belt at Model Town Extension but the civic body has turned its eyes closed to such serious issue. From this, it is clear that the MC had sealed the outlets just to prepare the record to produce before the NGT.
Keeping in view of the seriousness of non-compliance of its orders, facts and circumstance of the case, the Bench issued orders of personal appearance of the MC Commissioner, physically or through videoconferencing on the next date of hearing with records for assisting the Tribunal in just and proper adjudication of questions involved in the case.
