The Supreme Court on Monday set aside two orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that had imposed an environmental compensation of ₹18 crore on Triveni Engineering and Industries Ltd for alleged pollution violations at its Khatauli sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh, reported Law Trend.
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the company’s appeals and quashed two NGT orders dated February 15 and September 16, 2022. Writing the judgment, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan criticised the manner in which the green tribunal acted, remarking, “In the quest for doing justice, NGT has ended up doing just the reverse.”
As per the news report, the court found that the NGT had set up an ad hoc joint committee to inspect the mill’s compliance with pollution and effluent norms without following the procedure laid down under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The committee’s findings were accepted without adjudication, and the company was neither impleaded as a party to the case nor given a chance to challenge the report.
“It is crystal clear that the impugned decisions which entail adverse civil consequences upon the appellant were passed without following the due procedure laid down under the statute as well as the elementary principles of natural justice. We, therefore, have no hesitation in declaring such orders to be illegal and null and void,” the bench held.
The court emphasised that environmental compensation had been imposed “without any adjudication and without granting any opportunity of hearing” to the company. It further noted that the committee’s report, the basis of the NGT’s penalty, did not confirm compliance with statutory requirements.
Reiterating that the NGT, as a judicial forum, must adhere to fair processes, the bench called principles of natural justice an “inalienable part” of its functioning.
While quashing the fine, the Supreme Court clarified that the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) is free to carry out inspections of the sugar mill and take lawful remedial measures if violations are found.
The case stemmed from a plea filed before the NGT by one Chandra Shekhar, who alleged that the Khatauli mill was discharging untreated effluents into local drains, contaminating groundwater up to 50 metres deep within a 1.5-kilometre radius. Following inspections in December 2021, a joint committee of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), UPPCB, and the Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate reported several lapses, leading the NGT to impose the ₹18 crore compensation in 2022.
