HC upholds DDA’s removal of plant nurseries from Yamuna floodplains

Yamuna in Delhi has surpassed the threshold of pollution, and any interference in its rejuvenation efforts under the guise of humanitarian or sympathetic consideration is unjustified, the Delhi high court has held, while upholding Delhi Development Authority ’s action of uprooting plant nurseries located on the Yamuna floodplains. The court ruling came on a day when another high court bench expressed its displeasure over non-installation of common effluent treatment plants in 16 of 33 industrial areas in Delhi, and said this presented a “shocking state of affairs” as the lack of CETPs was resulting in free flow of untreated effluents into theYamuna. The DDA, represented by advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, submitted that the encroached upon land was located on the Yamuna floodplains and was government land on which the authority had to undertake eco restoration plantation as a part of a public project called “Mayur Nature Park”, a bio diversity park being developed for securing Delhi’s green cover. In its 10-page order, the court further held that the association besides its “flimsy attempt” to tug its conscience, had failed to demonstrate any reasonable and justifiable grounds for protection from dispossession over the land.