Bent Over Backwards

Woodstock went down in history for the four lakh people who converged upon Max Yasgur's farm in White Lake. Sri Sri and team expect 3.5 million from 155 countries to be in Delhi. Several environmental organizations and lawyers had approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to cancel the event since it would cause irreparable environmental damage to the river.

Till Wednesday evening, the entire country held its breath waiting for the NGT's decision on whether the event should be cancelled or not. The last few days, this quasi-judicial body had been listening to lawyers for the Art of Living (AOL) Foundation questioning their earnest declaration of environmental friendliness. The court finally imposed an initial fine of Rs 5 crore, payable before the event itself. The full cost of restoration of the venue would have to be paid within another two weeks.

If the judgment brought late relief for the Foundation, the excessive delay also closed the door for the petitioners to approach the Supreme Court to try and stay the event.

The AOL founder did not come to the tribunal but he did keep 'tweeting' his views about the arguments in court and the discussions in media and social media. He too kept asserting his commitment to ecological preservation. But, both his tweets and the statements by his counsel appear devoid of scientific truth. AOL did not submit any plan of their event before claiming permissions from the various government agencies. As a result, the agencies shrank before the NGT, claiming ignorance of its scale and size.

Since the spiritual leader is close to PM Narendra Modi, it is doubtful if the agencies would have said a 'no' to the event. The MoEF (which is led by Prakash Javadekar) played it safe and said that the WCF was a cultural event and any sort of construction was only temporary, hence AOL didn't need environmental clearance. The NGT has not accepted this argument.

The MoEF did consider backtracking on this. Sources told Outlook that during internal discussions, the ministry felt that the public controversy was drawing a lot of bad press. It decided to not press beyond this simple statement.

The Delhi Police flagged several issues about safety of the attendees and participants since there are only a few pontoons across the river. In a classified report to the Ministry for Home Affairs, it also said that the security arrangements for the VVIPs was inadequate and there would be infrastructural disadvantages for guaranteeing the security of the PM and 15 other VVIPs. This led the SPG to reconsider clearing the PM's attendance at the event. 

Water Resources Ministry, led by Uma Bharati, also made it clear that it did not give clearance for the event because it did not know about the scale and size. The NGT noted that AOL had provided "vague, uncertain and incomplete" information about the event, while seeking its permission from the various agencies. 

During the hearing, the NGT noted that the two ministries did not consult with each other on these matters. "Don't even the counsel talk to each other?" asked Justice Swatantra Kumar, chairperson of the NGT.

The NGT also questioned the scientific soundness of AOL's claims. In its order, it has barred the foundation from releasing 'enzymes' into the water. AOL had claimed that these enzymes had been developed over three months in the homes of one lakh of its Delhi followers and that these would purify the Yamuna, removing its putrid stench during the festival. 

A few days earlier he had tweeted: "Villagers have said that buffaloes who never ventured near the water are now entering the water. Even the buffaloes recognize!" The court did not seem to accept the buffalo argument and directed AOL not to pollute the river with its enzymes.

Sri Sri has not appreciated the order and said he would appeal against the fine imposed on him. He has less than a day to approach the Supreme Court for temporary respite.

The NGT also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for permitting the event. AOL had claimed that its volunteers had cleaned melba and construction debris from the site. DDA refuted this and produced an expense statement. This reportedly showed that the agency had spent around Rs 2 crore on cleaning melba in 2014-15, while this year it had had to spend only Rs 1.5 lakh to clear debris. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation also said it had not left any construction debris at the site.

Despite the rivalry between Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, the latter sounded his support for the event both before and after the NGT hearing. Kejriwal tweeted that all controversy around the event should be put to rest after the NGT decision.

There is also a view that AOL has invested around Rs 25 crore in setting up the event as yet and that "India's prestige" was at stake. Firstly, the event is private and it may also be noted there have been bigger monetary losses for several en masse cancellations by the Supreme Court in the 2G and Coal block allocation cases.

The one issue to survive this whole mess is the misuse of army personnel in construction activities for a private event during peacetime. Most ex-army officers have criticised the action though the charter is silent on it. Military personnel can be called upon to aid civil authorities, but, that is usually to address emergency situations, which a cultural event by a private organisation does not qualify for.

"A proper policy and guidelines should be laid down once and for all," says Navdeep Singh, armed forces' law specialist and a retired officer himself.

"There is nothing laid down in black and white and aid to civil authorities is permissible at the request of the civil administration but not at request of AOL. Media reports claim that the defence ministry requisitioned the army's help to prevent a stampede. But, this is not an emergency situation so it may not have merited requisitioning the army," he says.

A serving officer of lieutenant general rank said that it did not befit the army to work at the behest of a private event organiser and sent a wrong message to the public as well as destroyed the morale of the jawans.