Noida: Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a plea by Noida Authority and Delhi Jal Board challenging National Green Tribunal’s Rs 150-crore environmental compensation over alleged sewage discharge into the Kondli irrigation canal.This will be the third listing since Jan 21 that the apex court took up the matter for hearing, but had to adjourn it as the state govt’s counsel sought more time. After the hearing last month, the case was listed again on Feb 4.The case took over from an NGT judgment from Aug 2022 in connection with an application filed by environmentalist Abhisht Kusum Gupta. After the tribunal imposed the Rs 150-crore environmental compensation on Noida Authority and DJB, they moved SC against the order. While the Authority faces a penalty of Rs 100 crore, DJB has been asked to pay Rs 50 crore.The apex court, while staying NGT’s direction, asked Noida to comply with the tribunal’s directives set up functional STPs to arrest the flow of untreated water into the Kondli canal.As part of SC’s scrutiny, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was asked to verify Noida’s claims on sewage treatment and discharge of water into the canal. CPCB’s findings showed uneven compliance across the city’s eight operational STPs. It said only three STPs — 50 MLD in Sector 168, 80 MLD in Sector 123 and 54 MLD in Sector 54 — complied with discharge norms for monitored parameters prescribed by UP Pollution Control Board, while five were non-compliant on one or more parameters.In an affidavit, CPCB told NGT that all eight STPs met discharge limits for pH and total suspended solids (TSS). However, only four were compliant on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) — a key indicator of organic pollution — and seven met the faecal coliform limit.CPCB also assessed three in-situ wetlands built in the Noida drain. At the Sector 50/51 wetland, samples showed higher concentrations of COD, BOD, TSS, PO–P and NH3-N at the outlet. At the wetland near NSEZ, Dadri Crossing, samples showed higher COD and BOD at the outlet than the inlet. The wetland near Advant tower in Sector 142 showed removal efficiencies of 25.9% for BOD, 28.2% for COD and 35.4% for TSS.The team further sampled the drain just before it discharged into the Yamuna, where results showed a high BOD concentration, indicating “the discharge of inadequately treated or untreated wastewater in the drain”.On Dec 3 last year, SC asked CPCB to draw fresh samples from all eight STPs and the wetlands within two weeks, get them analysed and file a fresh report. It noted that the earlier material was unclear and may not have reflected ground reality because samples were collected on Oct 15, 2025, during an extended rainy season and high flows.“The compliance affidavit submitted by Central Pollution Control Board discloses the analytical results of STPs of Noida in respect of samples drawn on Oct 15, 2025, by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research. However, it is not disclosed whether the analytical results, reflected in the table, are in conformity with the norms. We, therefore, require the CPCB to file a better affidavit disclosing whether the analytical data of the samples analysed by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research conforms with the norms or not,” a division bench of Justices Manoj Mishra and Joymalya Bagchi had said.During the Jan 21 hearing, CPCB placed a fresh report before the court, but the state govt counsel sought time to respond. The matter was listed again on Feb 4, when the counsel was not ready and the hearing was adjourned again.
