New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): Hailing the Supreme Court's 'landmark judgment' of quashing the 2017 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Art of Living Foundation on Sunday said the apex court has 'absolved' the organisation by 'finding' that the 2016 World Culture Festival has done no damage to the Yamuna floodplains.

The Supreme Court on Saturday set aside the NGT's 2017 order which had held the Art of Living Foundation responsible for damage to the Yamuna floodplains during its 2016 World Culture Festival. The apex court also directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to refund the Rs 5 crore deposit made by the organisation within four weeks, invalidating all consequential and interim actions.

An official spokesperson for the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar-led Art of Living Foundation said the apex court's ruling has exposed certain 'vested interests' for falsely accusing the organisation of damaging the environment.

'A landmark judgment was given by the Supreme Court of India that has vindicated our stand and absolved the Art of Living by finding that the World Culture Festival has done no damage whatsoever to the Yamuna floodplains, as was wrongly claimed. The Court has further directed a full refund of Rs 5 crore deposit, which was wrongly touted as a fine to tarnish the reputation of the organisation. The Supreme Court has found that the National Green Tribunal handled the entire proceedings in an extremely unfair manner. We were not even allowed to contest any of the findings that formed the basis of their judgment,' he said.

Criticising the NGT, the Art of Living spokesperson highlighted that the Tribunal blatantly ignored the Chairperson of their 'own expert committee', Shashi Shekhar, when he 'disagreed with the findings of his own committee.'

Notably, Shekhar was appointed by the NGT as the head of the seven-member expert panel formed to inspect and evaluate the alleged environmental damage to the Yamuna floodplains

'It is shocking that the NGT chose to completely ignore a letter given by Shashi Shekhar, the chairperson of their own expert committee, where he clearly stated that he disagreed with the findings of his own committee, as it has no scientific grounds, findings that formed the basis of the NGT judgment. The ridiculous attitude of certain vested interests in falsely accusing an organisation of damaging the environment that it has been working to protect has been thoroughly exposed,' the spokesperson added. (ANI)