SC stays NGT order directing CPCB to ask RO makers banning purifiers if TDS below 500 mg/l

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed an order of the National Green Tribunal directing the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to issue directions to all RO manufacturers banning water purifiers where the level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in water is below 500

milligrams per litre.

A bench of Justices S A Nazeer and Krishna Murari issued notices to the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Central Pollution Control Board, and others.

Issue notice returnable within three months. Until further orders, the direction(s) contained in paragraph 6 of the impugned order are stayed, the bench said. The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Water Quality India Association challenging the December 1, 2021 order of the NGT.

The NGT had directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to issue directions to all RO manufacturers banning water purifiers where the level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in water is below 500 milligrams per litre. The tribunal had also asked the CPCB to issue directions on the management of RO rejects, including cartridges.

"To secure compliance of orders of this Tribunal read with the order of the Supreme Court, we direct CPCB to issue an appropriate order under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 in terms of orders of this Tribunal to all the manufacturers so as to come into force within one month," the NGT had said.

The tribunal had said gazette notification issued by the MoEF on 'Regulation on the use of Water Purification System' cannot be said to be in compliance with its order.