The NGT has summoned the DPCC Member Secretary to explain its lab's status after the body said it lacks equipment to test groundwater around the Ghazipur landfill. The tribunal was hearing a matter concerning a major fire at the landfill site.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Member Secretary of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to appear virtually at the next hearing and disclose the status of its laboratory and the equipment available for testing, after the pollution control body informed the tribunal that it did not have the necessary equipment to conduct groundwater analysis around the Ghazipur landfill site.

DPCC Cites Lack of Equipment

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Expert Member Dr. Afroz Ahmad passed the direction while hearing a matter concerning a major fire at the Ghazipur landfill in Delhi, following a news report published in the media on April 21, 2024. In its Tuesday (October 13) order, the tribunal observed that the DPCC was expected to have a fully equipped laboratory and directed its Member Secretary to explain the status of the facility and the equipment available. The direction came after counsel appearing for the DPCC submitted that the equipment required for testing was not available with the committee. The counsel informed the tribunal that a tender had been floated on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal and that testing would be undertaken after the equipment was obtained.

NGT's Previous Directives

The tribunal had earlier directed the DPCC to collect groundwater samples from at least 20 different locations within the radius prescribed under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, extending subsequently to a radius of 1.5 kilometres from the Ghazipur site, and submit an analysis report. The samples were to be analysed in accordance with Clause (E) of Schedule II of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026.

Legal Proceedings and Next Hearing

The tribunal noted that the DPCC had not been represented at the previous hearing and had consequently directed that a copy of its earlier order be forwarded to the committee’s Member Secretary for necessary compliance. During the latest hearing, counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Narender Pal Singh, sought time to obtain the relevant documents and prepare the matter, submitting that he had been engaged by the civic body only a day earlier. The matter has been listed for further hearing on January 19, 2027.

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