The National Green Tribunal ordered the Art of Living Foundation (AOL) to pay the remaining Rs 4.75 crore compensation fee for hosting the World Culture Festival on the Yamuna flood plain. The payment cannot be made as a bank guarantee, as Art of Living had requested, Justice Swatanter Kumar told a packed courtroom on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the tribunal ordered a preliminary Rs 5 crore payment in damages to the flood plain caused by the foundation’s World Culture Festival. According to a principal committee appointed by the tribunal, damage included flattening and clearing of a 1000-acre area.
Prior to the World Cultural Festival, AOL had told NGT they did not have enough money to pay Rs 5 crore. An initial 25 lakh was paid, and the organisation agreed to pay the remaining 4.75 crore a month after the event. A day before the final payment was due, lawyers for the foundation requested to make the payment in the form of a bank guarantee as opposed to a direct payment.
Art of Living has been engaging in multiplicity of litigation. The conduct of the foundation has been called into question. Now they will have to pay the full amount.Ritwick Dutta, Advocate for Petitioners against Art of Living
The foundation told the tribunal payment itself was not a problem; the problem was the media and the public perception of the nature of the payment. It has insisted that the court order called for damage compensation, not a fine, but media publications have called this payment a fine.
Justice Swatanter Kumar, however, noticed the shift in discourse from Art of Living.
Your excuse was that you had spent all the money on the event. Now you change the story. It doesn’t give a good signal.Justice Swatanter Kumar to Art of Living
Art of Living was fined Rs 5,000 for submitting an application that lacks merit.
Lawyers representing the foundation said they would study the order and consider their options. The organisation continues to claim they left the flood plain in better condition than they found it.
The principal committee which made an original assessment of the World Culture Festival site before the event is expected to go back for a second assessment on 7 June.
Based on the second assessment, the National Green Tribunal said it would determine additional compensation on top of the original Rs 5 crore.
On Monday, Art of Living submitted an application for a new committee, saying the current committee is biased. In a hearing on Tuesday, the National Green Tribunal gave the foundation the option to add two independent experts to the committee if it would withdraw its application.
Art of Living decided not to drop the application, but said it will raise the issue of bias in a hearing on 4 July.
We’ll be challenging the constitution of the committee, and if necessary the content of the report.Nikhil Sakhardande, Art of Living Advocate
Further hearings on the case will be taken up after the one month summer recess.
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