Journalists and Art of Living supporters alike squeezed into the principal bench room of the National Green Tribunal Wednesday in anticipation of a long awaited judgment on the World Culture Festival. But the tribunal postponed decisions to August, a month after the bench’s summer recess.
It has been more than two months since the World Culture Festival launched and the National Green Tribunal ordered the Art of Living Foundation to pay Rs 5 Crore in compensation for damage caused to the Yamuna floodplain.
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Decisions relating to the case against the Art of Living have been repeatedly pushed back since an original order was passed days before the event.
Though Art of Living was originally supposed to make a Rs 5 crore payment to the Delhi Development Authority before the World Culture Festival launched on March 11th, the tribunal agreed to give the foundation a month to complete the payment after an initial 25 lakh was paid.
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A day before the final payment was due, Art of Living filed a request to submit a bank guarantee rather than a direct payment. The deadline was early April, but it is now the end of May and the Delhi Development Authority still hasn’t received the money.
The tribunal is expected to levy a higher compensation fee after an expert panel reviews the extent of damage caused by the World Culture Festival on the flood plain. Remnants of the festival can still be found on the plain and grass has yet to grow back on the patch of earth that held the forty-foot stage.
An expert committee went to the site in April and was turned away by Art of Living. The committee now has two weeks to submit a report, the National Green Tribunal ordered Wednesday.
On 2 August, the tribunal will address whether Art of Living has disobeyed its order based on petitions from Manoj Mishra and Anand Arya.
Petitioners say the foundation acted in contempt of court by dumping an “enzyme” into the Yamuna river. The tribunal had told Art of Living not to use the enzyme, which is based on fermented kitchen waste. There is no evidence this enzyme is an effective means of breaking down pollution in rivers.
Petitioners also said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living, acted in contempt of court by making statements to the press, but Art of Living argued Wednesday that the National Green Tribunal does not have the power to charge contempt of court for media statements.
It may be stated here the allegation by Manoj Mishra regarding Sri Sri’s comment on the NGT are baseless. The petition was based on unverified newspaper reports [...] It was yet another malafide attempt by Mishra to malign and tarnish [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s] image by false claims.Art of Living
For now, though, the court will rest on the case. If a decision ever comes, it will be long after public attention has shifted away from the issue.
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