Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 22; The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has sought a specific progress affidavit from the Jammu Municipal Corporation in a long-pending public interest litigation highlighting serious environmental governance failures in Jammu, including alleged irregular clearances to polluting industries, unscientific waste dumping near Jammu Airport and along River Tawi, and lack of transparency in pollution monitoring.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, Rajinder Singh vs State of J&K and others, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal observed that though several orders have been passed since the petition was filed in 2014, “little has been achieved on the ground.”
The petition alleges that the then State Pollution Control Board, now the Pollution Control Committee, failed to properly advise the government, lacked recognized laboratories, and issued No Objection Certificates to polluting industries falling in red, orange and "Another issue flagged in the petition is the failure to operationalise the online consent management and monitoring system, developed in 2011, allegedly to avoid transparency and accountability."
The court also took note of allegations of unscientific dumping of waste near Jammu Airport, posing a bird-strike risk, as well as on the banks of River Tawi. Another issue flagged in the petition is the failure to operationalise the Online Consent Management and Monitoring System, developed in 2011, allegedly to avoid transparency and accountability.
Before proceeding further, the Bench required Jammu Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dr. Devansh Yadav to join the proceedings. After hearing him at length on multiple issues arising in the matter, the court granted one week’s time to file a specific affidavit detailing the progress, if any, made so far in addressing the concerns raised in the PIL and in earlier court directions.
The matter has been adjourned to April 28, 2026, for further consideration. |