SC: Ensure smaller cities don’t become polluted like Mum

NEW DELHI: The Union and state governments should make sure that small cities do not become what Mumbai is today, the Supreme Court said on Friday while describing Maharashtra’s capital as one of the most polluted cities in the country.

A bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah emphasised that smaller cities have to be protected from the kind of development and changes that a big city like Mumbai went through.

“If you don’t take steps for cities which are on the brink of industrialisation then what quality of life will these cities have after some years? They will go down the same way,” the bench told the two law officers of the Centre, appearing on behalf of the environment and urban development ministries.

The court’s comments came after additional solicitor general KM Natraj, representing the urban development ministry, submitted that the norms for effluent discharge by sewage treatment plants (STPs) in water bodies cannot be the same for all the cities.

“Smaller cities cannot compete with a city like Mumbai,” he argued. “Mumbai is worse than smaller cities. Just make sure smaller cities don’t become Mumbai, what it is today. Also, you are talking about different norms but can you say that people in smaller cities deserve a different standard of life? Every citizen is entitled to the same quality of life,” the court said.

On her part, ASG Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the environment ministry, regretted the lack of infrastructure in tier two and three cities with regard to checking the deterioration of water quality. “So, the Union and the states should make infrastructure available. Why should people in a tier two or three city not get the same quality of life that a tier one city has?,” responded the bench. The court was hearing appeals by the central government and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) against an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2019. The green tribunal had imposed a penalty of around ₹100 crore on the MCGM for continued pollution of the city’s creeks and water bodies by discharge of inadequately treated effluent into drains from different STPs. By an order in July, the NGT directed that municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal be present in person to explain why adverse orders should not be passed against him for continuing violations.