Environment
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Supreme Court sets aside Art of Living Yamuna fine
NDTV··23 Aug
On 22 August 2026, the Supreme Court set aside a December 2017 National Green Tribunal order that had held the Art of Living Foundation liable for damage to the Yamuna floodplain during the 2016 World Culture Festival. Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and N.K. Singh told the Delhi Development Authority to refund Rs 5 crore within four weeks.
Prism
What It Means For You
- If you follow Yamuna restoration in Delhi, the court left DDA's rehabilitation duties in place even as it ordered the Rs 5 crore returned.
- Anyone who paid attention to the 2016 World Culture Festival should note the finding is that the NGT did not prove added damage by the organiser.
- If you are waiting on the refund, the direction is four weeks from 22 August, to be paid by DDA to the foundation.
What's Happening
- The 2017 NGT order and later interim steps against the appellant were set aside together.
- Justice Sharma wrote that permission for the event was avoidable and did not match the precautionary principle or the public-trust doctrine.
- The court said the tribunal had turned a damage claim into a bill for fresh floodplain development and made the organiser pay for land it did not destroy.
Why The Court Sent The Fine Back To DDA
- The World Culture Festival was held on the active floodplain of the Yamuna, a zone where construction and large events have long been litigated.
- NGT had used a committee report to fix Rs 5 crore as environmental compensation in 2017, nine years before this reversal.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's foundation organised the 2016 event. The legal appellant in 2026 was Vyakti Vikas Kendra India.
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