New Delhi: New Delhi Municipal Council has informed National Green Tribunal that it identified three illegal borewells at The Lalit hotel, Barakhamba and sealed one of them. It asked Delhi Pollution Control Committee to assess the amount of environmental compensation to be imposed on the five-star hotel for “the period during which groundwater may have been extracted without valid authorisation or in excess of the permitted quantum”. The tribunal is hearing a plea filed by a local, Shailesh Singh, over illegal extraction by some hotels. He filed an executive application in 2023 seeking compliance with the tribunal’s Aug 2018 order, which stated that respondents may approach the competent authority for permission to extract groundwater after specifying the quantity required. The tribunal had also said the respondents may inform Central Ground Water Authority specifying the period during which water was being extracted, so that the authority could determine the quantity and take action of it breached the permissible limit.
In its Jan 21, 2026, report submitted to the tribunal, the municipal agency stated that out of the three borewells at The Lalit, one had been sealed in Aug 2025, while the hotel applied for permission to extract water from the other two. The case is now before the district level advisory committee. The agency stated it wrote to the New Delhi district magistrate on Jan 19, requesting a final decision of the committee in accordance with groundwater extraction and regulation guidelines. The agency added that it also initiated proceedings for levying additional sewer charges on the hotel. No response was received from The Lalit till the time of going to press. In another development, the advisory committee, in its last meeting in Dec 2025, permitted groundwater extraction at Bengali School on Mandir Marg, for the General Pool Residential Accommodation project in Sarojini Nagar, on the premises of bungalows of some judges and in parts of Vasant Kunj, following inspections.
