NGT puts brakes on DDA's unified by-laws for Delhi

The chairperson bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has put brakes on the implementation of the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) ‘Unified Building Bye-Laws’ that sought to merge green clearances for constructions in 20,000 sq.m to 1,50,000 sq.m with building approvals. The bye-laws were brought out on the basis of a notification of the union ministry for environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) that exempted building projects in 20,000 sq.m to 1,50,000 from green clearance for ‘ease of business’.

DDA’s bye-laws were notified with the prior concurrence of the MoEFCC and even before the ministry’s draft notification the basis of DDA’s bye-laws had come into effect. The environment ministry’s notification and DDA’s subsequent bye-laws had drawn severe criticism from environmentalists, who accused the authorities of diluting environmental processes.

The unified bye-laws were challenged before the NGT by non-profit organisation Society for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity on grounds that the DDA’s bye-laws and environment ministry’s notification were in contravention to the Environment Impact Assessment notification, 2006.

The petitioner had also contended that urban local bodies do not possess the technical expertise or knowledge to evaluate environmental impact caused due to the building and construction activities. After hearing the matter from April, the NGT disposed the application in an order that was made public last week. It asked the union environment ministry to consider objections of the applicant. Whereas, the DDA informed NGT that though the unified building bye-laws have been notified, the chapter on environment conditions for sanctioning building plans would not be put into practice till the union environment ministry give its approval and concurrence.

DDA’s counsel Rajiv Bansal told DNA, “The unified bye-laws will not be made effective till modalities to implement them are approved by the union environment ministry.”

As per the EIA notification, 2006, building and construction projects between 20,000 sq.m to 1,50,000 sq.m are appraised by the State Expert Appraisal Committees, that comprise of technical experts, independent experts and environmental experts. One of the key contentions of the applicant was that union environment ministry had failed to fulfill its statutory responsibilities and was in fact, transferring powers to urban local bodies. This, the petitioner said, creates a situation of conflict of interest as all the powers have been vested with the same authority right from grant of approval to monitoring the compliance.

The application also highlighted that the urban bye-laws had not addressed the issues of clearance to constructions that would be situated in sites with endangered ecology and endemic flora and fauna. For instance, in the bye-laws, there is no specific consideration for projects situated in ecologically sensitive areas like national parks, sanctuaries, forests and other protected areas.