Govardhan shrine board: SC to hear UP's plea against NGT order on appearance of sr officer

The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear the Uttar Pradesh government's plea against an NGT order seeking personal appearance of a senior official over delay in constitution of a shrine board for three temples in the pilgrimage town of Govardhan in Mathura district.

The National Green Tribunal has sought personal appearance of A K Awasthi, additional chief secretary the state, before it on July 31 for non-compliance of the order.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was told by the counsel for the state government that the official has been summoned and the plea needed to be listed for an urgent hearing.

"Why bureaucrats are hesitant to come before the NGT, if it wants to interact," said the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Anirddha Bose.

The bench then agreed to hear the plea of the state government on Friday.

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 temples Jatipura, Dhanghati and Mansi Ganga.

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.