National Green Tribunal: In a suo motu cognizance of a news report titled “arsenic found in groundwater in 25 States, fluoride in 27 States”, the two-member bench of Sudhir Agarwal, (Judicial Member) and Dr. A. Senthil Vel, (Expert Member) considered the nature of the matter to be serious and directed the authorities concerned to take urgent preventive and protective steps.
The newspaper report stated that Arsenic has been detected in ground water in parts of 230 Districts and 25 States and fluoride in 469 Districts and 27 States. The report also mentioned that the ground water contamination reported by Central Ground Water Board (‘CGWB’) was mostly geogenic in nature and does not show any significant changes over the years. It also highlighted that studies have indicated occurrence of arsenic and fluoride in ground water beyond permissible limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards for human consumption in isolated pockets of various States and Union Territories.
In furtherance of a notice issued by the Tribunal, the CGWB submitted its report dated 18-12-2023 and admitted the presence of arsenic in various Districts and 25 States and fluoride in various Districts and 27 States. The CGWB also stated that both these chemicals/metals have very serious toxic effects on human body and health and cause health hazards.
The Tribunal said that CGWB is the body responsible for regulating ground water, even after admitting to the presence of toxic elements like arsenic and fluoride in ground water contaminating it and causing serious toxic effects to human body, but no effective steps have been taken by the CGWB. The Tribunal also rebuked the CGWB for shirking away from its own statutory responsibility and obligations and taking flimsy grounds that “water is the subject of State and therefore, CGWB on its own is not capable of taking any serious action in the matter”, which have already been rejected by the Supreme Court in MC Mehta v. UOI, (1997) 11 SCC 312.
Upon noticing that the matter involved various States, the Tribunal impleaded 28 States, CGWB and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and issued notice. The Tribunal considered the presence of these toxic metals in groundwater as serious and directed the authorities concerned to take urgent preventive and protective steps.
The matter was further listed for a hearing on 15-02-2024.
