NGT levies Rs 100 crore environmental compensation on Kochi Municipal Corporation
New Delhi (PTI): The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Kochi Municipal Corporation in Kerala to pay an environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore for the damage to the environment because of its failure to handle solid waste.
The green panel has also observed that the state of Kerala and the authorities concerned have been an "utter failure" and have "rampantly violated the statutory solid waste management rules and orders", and the attitude of the authorities in not fixing accountability for environmental violations was "a threat to the rule of law".
The NGT was hearing a matter in which it had initiated suo-motu (on its own) proceedings on the basis of a media report on an environmental emergency caused due to a fire at a dump site in Kochi.
"We are conscious that an identical issue is being dealt with by the Kerala High Court, but we make it clear that this order is without prejudice to and subject to the said proceedings. We are also informed that an identical issue is pending before the South Zone bench of the tribunal and it may, accordingly, take into account this order before proceeding further with any pending matter," a bench of Chairperson Justice AK Goel said.
The bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, said the reason for considering the issue was that the matter was being dealt with by the principal bench here for more than eight years on the direction of the Supreme Court through its order dated September 2, 2014.
It said the state of Kerala and its authorities have been an "utter failure and have rampantly violated the statutory solid waste management rules and orders" of the Supreme Court and the tribunal.
The bench said except for giving future plans, there was no fixing of accountability, nor were proceedings initiated against those guilty of criminal offences under the Environment (Protection) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"Such attitude of state authorities is a threat to the rule of law. We hope that the situation is remedied at the higher level in the state, such as the director general of police (DGP) and the chief secretary, to uphold the Constitution and the mandate of environmental law," it said.
Considering the monetary liability for the damage to the environment for failing to comply with solid waste management norms and the "long-continuing neglect of its duties by the Kochi Municipal Corporation", the green panel directed the corporation to pay an environmental compensation (EC) of Rs 100 crore.
The amount has to be deposited with the chief secretary of the southern state within a month for necessary remediation measures, including dealing with the public health issues of the victims, the tribunal said.
"Apart from the above, we direct the chief secretary, Kerala to fix accountability of the officers concerned for such gross failures and initiate action under criminal law as well as by way of departmental proceedings, following due process, and place the same in the public domain within two months," the tribunal said.
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Grok obscene AI content: X submits response, IT Ministry examining it, say sources
New Delhi (PTI): The IT Ministry is examining the response and submissions made by X following a government directive to crack down on misuse of artificial intelligence chatbot Grok by users for the creation of sexualised and obscene images of women and minors, sources said.
X had been given extended time until Wednesday, 5 PM to submit a detailed Action Taken Report to the ministry, after a stern warning was issued to the Elon Musk-led social media platform over indecent and sexually-explicit content being generated through misuse of AI-based services like 'Grok' and other tools.
Sources told PTI that X has submitted their response, and it is under examination.
The details of X's submission were, however, not immediately known.
On Sunday, X's 'Safety' handle said it takes action against illegal content on its platform, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.
"Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content," X had said, reiterating the stance taken by Musk on illegal content.
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On January 2, the IT Ministry pulled up X and directed it to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene and unlawful content, especially generated by Grok (X's built-in artificial intelligence interface) or face action under the law.
In the directive on Friday, the ministry asked the US-based social media firm to submit a detailed action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours, spelling out specific technical and organisational measures adopted or proposed in relation to the Grok application; the role and oversight exercised by the Chief Compliance Officer; actions taken against offending content, users and accounts; as well as mechanisms to ensure compliance with the mandatory reporting requirement under Indian laws.
The IT Ministry, in the ultimatum issued, noted that Grok AI, developed by X and integrated on the platform, is being misused by users to create fake accounts to host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner.
"Importantly, this is not limited to creation of fake accounts but also targets women who host or publish their images or videos, through prompts, image manipulation and synthetic outputs," the ministry said, asserting that such conduct reflects a serious failure of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms, and amounts to gross misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in violation of stipulated laws.
The government made it clear to X that compliance with the IT Act and rules is not optional, and that the statutory exemptions under section 79 of the IT Act (which deals with safe harbour and immunity from liability for online intermediaries) are conditional upon strict observance of due diligence obligations.
"Accordingly, you are advised to strictly desist from the hosting, displaying, uploading, publication, transmission, storage, sharing of any content on your platform that is obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, paedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under any law...," the ministry said.
The government warned X in clear terms that any failure to observe due diligence obligations shall result in the loss of the exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act, and that the platform will also be liable for consequential action under other laws, including the IT Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
It asked X to enforce user terms of service and AI usage restrictions, including ensuring strong deterrent measures such as suspension, termination and other enforcement actions against violating users and accounts.
X has also been asked to remove or disable access "without delay" to all content already generated or disseminated in violation of applicable laws, in strict compliance with the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021, without, as such, vitiating the evidence.
Besides India, the platform has drawn flak in the UK and Malaysia too. Ofcom, the UK's independent communications regulator, in a recent social media post, said: "We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children".
"We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK. Based on their response, we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation," Ofcom said.
