PVC pipes: Supreme Court refuses to interfere with NGT fiat

PVC pipes: Supreme Court refuses to interfere with NGT fiat

News:

1. The Supreme Court has refused to intervene with the National Green Tribunal order to freeze its own directive to publish a warning about hazardous lead content in Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes.

Important Facts

2. Current petition contended that the publishing of the warning would safeguard the people from the adverse health effects of lead-contaminated water.
3. Earlier, Jan Sahyog Manch, an NGO had raised the concern for ecological damage caused by lead in the manufacture of PVC pipes and seeks for its remedy by National Green Tribunal.
4. On May 25 last year, NGT asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests to lay down standards for the use of lead in PVC pipes. The measure was to be implemented in consultation with the Indian Bureau of Standards.

• The tribunal intervened after learning that lead content in water pipes, used in buildings, contained toxic materials.

4. The NGT, however, decided to keep in abeyance its May 25 order after plastic manufacturing units said they were not heard.