Court stays construction of Yamuna embankment (The Hindu 22 January 2011)

The Delhi High Court on Friday told the Public Works Department of the Delhi Government that construction of an embankment along the Millennium Bus Depot on the east side of the Yamuna river floodplain by it shall be subject to a decision on a petition challenging construction of the depot.
A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna passed the order when the petitioner, social activist Vinod Kumar Jain, submitted that construction of the embankment was an attempt on the part of the Government to post facto claim it was not a floodplain.
Mr. Jain further submitted that the bus depot had been built on the Yamuna floodplain in violation of the Delhi Development Authority's Zonal Plan and without sanction by any authority.
He said the Lieutenant-Governor had only given permission to create a makeshift bus depot for a temporary period to deal with the rush of traffic during the Commonwealth Games last October but it violated the permission and built a permanent bus depot.According to the Zonal Plan, the Yamuna floodplain could be put to use only for recreational purposes like bio-diversity park or garden, the petitioner submitted.