NGT pulls up MoEF for delay in banning RO purifiers

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for failure to comply with its order on issuing a notification to ban RO purifiers, where total dissolved solids (TDS) in water are below 500 milligrams per litre.

A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, asked the Ministry to issue a notification by December 31, 2019, failing which concern officers will not be entitled to draw a salary from January 1, 2020.

Further coercive measures will be considered on January 10, the bench added.

"The officers present have not shown any valid reason for non-compliance beyond what is mentioned above which stand has no merit. The above stand clearly shows the failure of concerned officers to comply with the directions of an order of this tribunal dated May 20, 2019. The said order is a binding decree under Section 25 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 and the Officers of MoEF are liable to be proceeded against for noncompliance," the bench said.

Earlier the Green Bench had directed the government to prohibit RO purifiers where total dissolved solids (TDS) in water are below 500 mg per litre and sensitise public about the ill-effects of demineralised water.

The order had come following an Expert Panel report, which said that if TDS is less than 500 milligrams per litre, an RO system will not be useful but will result in removing important minerals as well as cause undue wastage of water.