Apex Court To Decide Whether Application Under Section 14 Of NGT Act Can Be Converted Into Appeal
The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an application under Section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010, (“the NGT Act”) can be converted into an appeal.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said, “The issue canvassed before us is whether an application made under Section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010, (for short, ‘the NGT Act’) can be converted into an appeal…We direct the appellant to place on record further orders passed in the matter including the order passed in Appeal No.04/2024 by the National Green Tribunal.”
Senior Advocate Ravinder Kumar appeared for the Petitioner.
Section 14 of the NGT Act reads as follows:
"14. Tribunal to settle disputes.—(1) The Tribunal shall have the jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question relating to environment (including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment), is involved and such question arises out of the implementation of the enactments specified in Schedule I. (2) The Tribunal shall hear the disputes arising from the questions referred to in sub-section (1) and settle such disputes and pass order thereon. (3) No application for adjudication of dispute under this section shall be entertained by the Tribunal unless it is made within a period of six months from the date on which the cause of action for such dispute first arose: Provided that the Tribunal may, if it is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the application within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days."
An Applicant filed an application under Section 18 (1) read with Sections 14, 15 and 18 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 before the NGT being aggrieved by Consent to Establish (CTE) granted by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and Environmental Clearance (EC) granted by Uttar Pradesh State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (UPSEIAA) in favour of the Petitioner herein for establishing a Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF), in UPSIDA Industrial Area, Babrala, District, Sambhal.
The Applicant sought the following reliefs, “i) Pass an order to inspect the documents of approval which was issued without following the proper norms. ii) To Pass an order for not issue permission to grant consent to operate and revoke /cancel the Consent to Establish for new unit/expansion/diversification dated:- 26/04/2022 and Environmental Clearance dated 13/07/2022 . iii) To pass an order to establish an expert committee to check and verify the legal status and details of approval taken by the Respondent No.7-8. iv) To pass any such orders as the Hon'ble tribunal may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.”
The NGT had ordered, “In view of the above the application converted to appeal is allowed and CTE and EC being violative of CBWTF Guidelines 2016 are held to be illegal, null and void and to be of no effect.”
Being aggrieved by this, the Petitioner, who was the Respondent before NGT, filed the Special Leave Petition.
Accordingly, the Apex Court issued notice in the matter and listed the matter for a further date.
Cause Title: M/S Punchakran Private Limited v. Ministry Of Environment, Forests And Climate Change & Ors.
Appearances:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Ravinder Kumar, AOR Rani Mishra, Advocates Gaurav Kumar Bansal, Vishnu Gupta, Vishnu Gupta and Nandita Bansal.