Industrial pollution: Supreme Court asks 3 Gujarat units to pay Rs 10 crore each

Rohit Prajapati collecting sample from a Gujarat river

By A Representative
The Supreme Court has asked three top Gujarat-based industries, Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd, United Phosphorus Ltd and Unique Chemicals Ltd, to deposit a compensation amount of Rs 10 crore each with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), which should use the money for "restoration and remedial measures" to improve the quality of environment in the industrial area in which the industries have been operating.
In its order dated April 1, in a petition filed by well-known environmentalist Rohit Prajapati of the Payavaran Suraksha Samiti against the three industrial houses the the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEF&CC), the apex court said, each of them should also additionally deposit an amount of Rs 10 lakh, as ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) earlier.
Citing Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court said (para 39), the three industries should deposit the amount of compensation with GPCB within a period of four months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the judgment. The three industries are operating in Paneval (Halol), Ankaleshwar and Panoli, respectively.
The apex court stated, "The concept of ex-post facto clearance is alien to environmental jurisprudence. It is in derogation of the fundamental principles of environmental jurisprudence and is an anathema to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification dated January 27, 1994" (para 23).
It continued, "The circular allowing for ex-post facto clearance is contrary to the objective of Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act. There was no jurisdictional bar on NGT to enquire into its legitimacy or vires. Moreover, the administrative circular is contrary to the EIA Notification 1994, which has a statutory character. The circular is thus unsustainable in law" (para 21).

Treating it as exemplary order, MoEFCC must ask state pollution control boards to act against India's 300 polluting units, identified by CPCB

The apex court argued, "The Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index report issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2018 show critical figures of pollution in the industrial cluster, which is an indication that industrial units have been operating in an unregulated manner and in defiance of the law" (para 35).
Prajapati, who is also a senior activist of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), commented, "Since the three industries have evaded the legally binding regime of obtaining Environmental Clearances (ECs), they cannot escape the liability incurred on account of such non-compliance and penalties must be imposed for the disobedience with a binding legal regime."
Talking with this Counterview, he added, "While the judgment pertains to just three industrial units of India, MoEFCC must treat this as an exemplary order and ask pollution control boards of all states to act against all the 300 polluting industries, identified by CPCB."
Senior advocates who appeared for the three industries included Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and CU Singh, NS Nadkarni appeared for MoEF&CC, and Siddharth Seem for Prajapati.

Comments

Anonymous said…

मुझे रोहित भाई प्रजापति का कांटेक्ट नंबर चाहिए

May 28, 2022

Anonymous said…

मुझे एक एनवायरमेंट के प्लांट के बारे में जानकारी है जो पानी में किसी भी तरीके का कोई ट्रीटमेंट किए बिना मेघा लाइन में छोड़ता है इसमें क्या आप मेरी कुछ मदद कर सकते हो

May 28, 2022

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

Search This Blog