AOL’s remarks on expert panel irresponsible, says NGT

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal (NGT)today termed as "very irresponsible" the public statementsmade by Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) after an expertpanel gave its report on the Yamuna that the organisation’scultural extravaganza had "completely destroyed" the riverbed. The bench’s remarks came during the hearing when thecounsel for AOL sought extension of time by three weeks forsubmitting its response to the expert committee’s report. "The statements which your client (AOL) had made werevery irresponsible. The media reports clearly stated whatyour client has said. What your client has done is veryirresponsible," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson SwatanterKumar said. In its statement to the media, the AOL had termed theexpert committee’s report, submitted to the NGT, as "biased"and said it "contains no analysis, no in-depth investigation,no reports of any scientific tests to support the conclusions.The conclusions in the report are merely the opinion of theexpert committee without scientific basis. The report does notreflect the true state of the ground." The issue came up when AOL’s counsel sought time to filea response to the report, while the counsel for petitioner andenvironmentalist Manoj Kumar Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyansaid the organisation has already formed its opinion on it asit released the statement to the media just a day after expertpanel’s report. "The very next day they formed their opinion. If theywant time, why did they make their opinion in media," thecounsel for the petitioner said. To this, AOL’s advocate claimed that the organisation hadnot done any such thing as alleged by the opposite side andargued that it should not be made a media trial. The tribunal, however, granted a week’s time to AOL tofile its response to the committee’s report. "From the averments made in the application, there ishardly any ground for extension of time. We grant one week’stime for filing response. Reply be positively filed bySeptember 12," the bench said, while posting the matter forSeptember 28. AOL had on August 31 moved the tribunal seeking extensionof time for submitting its response to the report. A seven-member expert committee headed by Shashi Shekhar,Secretary of Ministry of Water Resources, had opined that thethree-day ‘World Culture Festival’ organised by AOL had notonly damaged the floodplain, but the ground too was "nowtotally levelled, compacted and hardened and is totally devoidof water bodies or depressions and almost completely devoid ofany vegetation". (more) PTI SKV AGARC