The Supreme Court has asked the National Mission for Clean Ganga Authority (NMCGA) to submit a “comprehensive detailed report” on the current status of encroachments in its basins in various states in three months.The order came from a Bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala after Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati urged it to give “some more time” to enable her to answer all the five questions formulated by the top court comprehensively with full and correct information.In an order passed late last month, the Bench, which also included Justice KV Viswanathan, posted the matter for further hearing on July 21, 2026.An intervention application has also been filed in the case by Braj-Vrindavan Devalaya Samiti highlighting illegal construction in the Yamuna riverbed in Vrindavan.However, the Bench said it would consider the matter after receiving a report from the NMCGA in the main matter regarding encroachment along the Ganga.Expressing serious concern over large-scale illegal encroachments along the banks of the Ganga, the Supreme Court had on March 14 asked Bhati to take appropriate instructions and file a comprehensive report as regards encroachments along Ganga basin.The Ganga flows through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal but its river basin extends across six more states/union territories, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.The Bench had issued notices to various states after a 2024 NMCGA affidavit highlighted encroachments all over the banks and periphery of the Ganga river in Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh.On behalf of appellant Ashok Kumar Sinha, advocate Akash Vashishtha had submitted that there were large-scale encroachments all over the banks which required immediate attention and pointed out that some parts of these riverbanks were very rich in fresh water Dolphins.Noting that the Authority’s affidavit was two-year-old, the top court sought a report on the current status of encroachments in all these states/UTs along with the steps taken so far for the meaningful implementation and execution of all the clauses of the October 7, 2016 Notification issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.The Bench sought to know about the impediments or hurdles coming in the way of the authority in giving effect to the better and effective implementation of the notification and the steps the authority intended to take to protect the Ganga river passing through all these states and ensure that the river plains and banks were free of all encroachments.It had asked Bhati to seek instruction regarding directions the Authority would like the top court to issue to give a meaningful effect to the Notification and to the very mission which the Government of India has undertaken to make the river plains and the banks of the Ganga absolutely free of all encroachments.“The report should also indicate the status of the flood plain demarcation in each of the States referred to above,” the Bench had said in its March 12 order.The Bihar Government had told the Bench that out of 213 encroachments, 58 have been demolished but the state authorities have not been able to remove the balance 145 encroachments and there were some interim orders passed by the Patna High Court and various other district courts.