The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday adjourned to August 9 the matter regarding delay in constitution of a shrine board for three temples in the pilgrimage town of Govardhan in Mathura district.
A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore noted that an appeal against its order, seeking personal appearance of additional chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, has been filed before the Supreme Court and it is seized of the matter.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Pinki Anand, appearing for the UP government, placed before the bench the record of 'Shri Giriraj Mukharbindu Danghati, Shri Giriraj Mukharbindu Dashbiswa Goverdhan and Shri Giriraj Mukharbindu Jatipura Temple Bill, 2017'.
"The record of the Bill may be put in cover and left with the Court Master which will be returned after perusal of the same. Further, it is informed that in respect of the order dated July 19, 2019, a Civil Appeal has been preferred before the Supreme Court for which a mention was made on July 29, 2019 and the same is now posted for August 2, 2019.
"In such view of the matter, it would not be appropriate for us to proceed further today, though the officer and the record are before us, as Supreme Court is seized with the matter, " the bench said.
The tribunal also noted that a request, through email, has been made by the court commissioner seeking extension of time to submit his report with regard to the inspection conducted by him.
It took note of the submission and granted two weeks' time to the court commissioner to file his report.
Additional chief secretary A K Awasthi was present in court during the hearing.
The green panel had earlier directed the Chief Secretary to explain, as to why the directions of the tribunal has not been complied so far even when a clear commitment was made by the government that the same would be executed expeditiously.
NGT had earlier directed the state government to inform it about the reasons for the delay in constitution of a shrine board for three temples at Govardhan.
It had asked the Additional Chief Secretary to file an affidavit and give details with respect to the steps taken so far for the constitution of a shrine board for the three temples.
The tribunal said the shrine board would solve many problems like proper supervision and management of the temple, including hygiene, and prevent pollution of the environment, cleaning of the area, among others.
The tribunal had earlier rapped state authorities over their failure to remove encroachments from forest land in Govardhan, noting that the Forest Department has removed only four to five encroachments out of the total 33.
The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Mathura-based Giriraj Parikrama Sanrakshan Sansthan and others seeking compliance of the NGT's August 4, 2015 directions.
The organisation had raised the issue of civic authorities discharging sewage and municipal waste into ponds and other water bodies in Govardhan. PTI PKS
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