# Supreme Court sets aside NGT order, orders Rs 5 crore refund to Art of Living 2026-08-22T10:31:44+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Supreme Court on August 22 set aside a 2017 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that held Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Foundation responsible for damage to the Yamuna floodplains from its 2016 World Culture Festival. A bench of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and N K Singh found no direct evidence linking the event to the damage and directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to refund the Rs 5 crore environmental compensation deposited by the foundation. The court noted the floodplain was already damaged before the event site was handed over and that earlier reports had recorded deterioration. It criticised the NGT for relying on a satellite image that was inconsistent with other material, and for treating an interim order as final. The court also held that the NGT had wrongly imposed a broader rehabilitation obligation on the organisers, distinguishing between restoration and rehabilitation. The court directed the DDA to continue rehabilitation work on the Yamuna floodplains in line with earlier directions. The refund must be made within four weeks. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both thefederal.com and LiveLaw report the same outcome neutrally, with LiveLaw providing significantly more detail on the court's reasoning. LiveLaw's extensive coverage foregrounds the legal distinctions the court drew, such as between restoration and rehabilitation, and the criticism of the NGT's reliance on satellite imagery. Thefederal.com, publishing a wire copy, is briefer and does not include those nuances. Neither outlet takes a pro- or anti-government stance on the facts. The measured reading is that the Supreme Court reversed the NGT order on evidentiary and procedural grounds, but left the DDA's broader rehabilitation duty intact. Watch for the DDA's compliance with the four-week refund timeline and any fresh petition from environmental activists. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - thefederal.com (neutral report) Wire copy reprint with no editorial slant, focuses on the court order and refund - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight legal reporting with extensive court reasoning, no discernible slant This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-22T15:26:58+00:00. Tags: Art of Living, DDA, NGT, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Supreme Court, Yamuna Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-sets-aside-ngt-order-directs-rs-5-crore-refund-to-art-of-living/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-sets-aside-ngt-order-directs-rs-5-crore-refund-to-art-of-living/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/