Submit list of hotels extracting water without nod: NGT to DJB

The National Green Tribunal has directed Delhi Jal Board to submit a list of hotels in the national capital which were extracting groundwater without permission from Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar passed the direction while hearing a plea alleging unauthorised extraction of ground water by three five-star hotels here.
"Delhi Jal Board shall provide to the Tribunal, list of hotels which are extracting ground water, that too without the consent/permission of Central Ground Water Authority," the bench said.
During the hearing, the hotels against whom the petition has been filed, objected saying why only they were being targetted and inspected.

To this, advocate Sudeep Dey, appearing for petitioner, said they had filed similar pleas against other hotels and the matters were currently sub-judice.
The tribunal had last year issued notices to three five- star hotels -- Suryaa Hotel, Jaypee Siddharth Hotel and the Lalit, CGWA, Delhi Jal Board, New Delhi Municipal Council and Central Pollution Control Board on a plea by a city resident to immediately stop use of ground water.
The petitioner had alleged that these five-star hotels were using "several lakh litres" of ground water and the sources of water are not visible in their premises.
Earlier, the tribunal had imposed a fine of Rs 7.5 lakh on one of the hotels after it found "unsatisfactory" rain water harvesting systems in their premises.