Ajay Dubey vs State Of Madhya Pradesh And Ors

Stating that he is the Secretary of Environmental Action Group functioning in the name and style of 'Prayatna' which is involved in taking up the environmental issues in the larger interest of the society, the Applicant filed the Application before this Tribunal. He states that there are large number of industries in operation in the State of Madhya Pradesh (for short 'MP') and before commencing their operations these industries are required to take clearance under the provisions of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (in short 'Air Act') as well as Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (in short 'Water Act'). The Madhya Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (in short 'MPPCB'), after receiving the applications from the industries and after carrying out necessary inspection, grants the clearance under the aforesaid Acts. It has further been stated by the Applicant that under the Water Act the industries are required to treat the effluents before discharging from their premises so that it cannot pollute the Water bodies. The Applicant claims that having observed that the rules are not being followed, he filed an application before the MPPCB under the RTI Act on 27th October, 2008 and the Respondent No. 2, MPPCB supplied the information sought by the Applicant vide their letter dated 02nd December, 2008 (Annexure-A/1 filed with the OA). In the said document supplied by the MPPCB, list of industries has been furnished wherein during the course of inspection by the officials of the MPPCB, it was found that the norms prescribed under the Air and Water Acts are found to be beyond the prescribed limits. Therefore, it is crystal clear that the industries are violating environmental laws due to which the local human population as well as the flora and fauna is getting affected.

With the above submissions, the Applicant made a prayer to direct the Respondents to strictly comply with the provisions of the aforesaid Acts and also direct them to conduct enquiry and initiate strict departmental action against the concerned officials who are found not discharging their duties and allowing the industries to run by violating the provisions of Air and Water Acts.

After admitting the case on 29th May, 2014, notice has been issued to the Respondent No.2 MPPCB. In their reply dated 1st September, 2014 the MPPCB submitted that before granting consent for establishment and operation of the industries, the MPPCB follows the procedure prescribed under the Air and Water Acts by inspecting the units and satisfying themselves that the provisions of the aforesaid Acts are being followed. The industries are recognized under Red, Orange and Green categories to address the type of pollution generated by them. The MPPCB does two types of monitoring to ascertain whether a particular industry is following the prescribed norms with regard to implementation of pollution control measures. The procedure with respect to monitoring, as adopted by the MPPCB similar to the other State PCBs in the country, is based on the yearly monitoring package of each industry through the field laboratories established under the jurisdiction of various Regional offices. General monitoring is done after verifying various parameters and environmental standards. It has been further stated by the MPPCB that general monitoring of the industry waste water as well as emission is carried out to understand the trend of pollution and for taking corrective measures by writing to the industries duly pointing out the shortcomings/deficiencies on their part and directing them to rectify the same since the monitoring and controlling of pollution is a continuous ongoing process which depends not only on the basis of the installed pollution control technologies/devices but also needs up gradation from time to time depending on the availability of advanced technology. The MPPCB further submitted that under the framework of aforesaid Acts the second type of monitoring is known as legal monitoring which involves issuing notices, drawing of samples in the presence of authorized representative of the industry and communicating the results of the analysis of the samples to the industry. The decision to conduct legal monitoring is taken on the basis of inspection, impact on environment and other relevant factors. Where the results indicate that the environmental standards are found beyond the prescribed limits a notice will be issued and after receiving the reply from the industry inspection is carried out to evaluate the merits of the case and decide whether to initiate credible legal action against the defaulting industry or suggest corrective measures and if necessary, after taking bank guarantee duly prescribing a time bound action plan.

The MPPCB further stated that the general monitoring is actually a single party monitoring which is not acceptable in the Court of law for taking legal action against the concerned industry whereas legal monitoring is carried out on merits of the environmental factors. Generally monitoring of about 20 parameters is done and in case even if a few of the parameters are found to be beyond the prescribed limits though most of the other parameters are within the prescribed limits, renewal of consent is considered only with the condition of rectification/correction of the shortcomings/deficiencies along with the other environmental factors as laid down under Section 21 of the Air Act and under Sections 25 & 26 of the Water Act. The MPPCB therefore stated that the industries listed for the years 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2012-2013 as annexed by the Applicant with the Original Application, do not necessarily be causing pollution and operating in violation of laws since it is a continuous process to underte regular monitoring and issuing of notices for rectification and upgradation of technology to contain the pollution and when the Applicant sought information under the RTI Act, the aforesaid lists were furnished wherein it was found that the listed industries were maintaining environmental standards beyond the prescribed limits. It was further stated by the MPPCB that it has directed the management of 17 categories of highly polluting industries in the State to install online real time monitoring system to monitor emission and effluents round the clock duly displaying the results in the public domain through the portal of MPPCB and Central Pollution Control Board (in short 'CPCB'). Thus the MPPCB contended that the averments made in the Application do not warrant any consideration and the lists of industries for various financial years, furnished to the Applicant under the RTI Act pertain only to the general monitoring process adopted by the MPPCB. However, the MPPPCB sought some more time to submit a detailed report by obtaining the information from the Regional Offices with regard to the present position of the inspection and pollution control measures adopted by the industries in the state.

Accordingly on 11th November, 2014 the MPPCB filed their further reply stating that it has written letters to all the Regional Officers in the state to conduct the requisite legal monitoring to ascertain the environmental status before initiating action against the defaulting industries and accordingly the Regional Officers have conducted monitoring of the polluting industries duly taking legal samples and based on the outcome of the analysis of the samples action was initiated against the defaulting industries in accordance with law. The statement enclosed with the reply reveals that the total number of industries found polluting to be 255. However, legal monitoring of Air and Water samples was done in respect of 298 industries out of which 19 industries were found violating the norms and in all, prosecution was launched against 27 defaulting industries and the court cases are pending. In addition to the newly prosecuted 27 industries MPPCB has already prosecuted 30 industries for violation under the Air Act and 19 industries for violating the Water Act. With their reply the MPPCB has enclosed the particulars of all the industries monitored in all the 13 Regions in the State. Finally, the MPPCB has prayed that it is vigilant about the violation of the environmental norms by the industries and as and when industries are found flouting the norms and emitting the emission/effluents beyond the prescribed limits necessary action is being taken.

The aforesaid reply of the Respondent No.2, MPPCB was furnished to the Learned Counsel for the Applicant who prayed that some time may be granted to go through the same and offer remarks/comments.

On the next date of hearing i.e. on 16th December, 2014, the Applicant was present in person along with his Counsel. However, no rejoinder/remarks have been offered by the Applicant on the replies of the MPPCB. During the course of hearing on 16th December, 2014 also the Applicant has not offered any specific comments. His arguments were found to be general in nature without pointing out any specific irregularity against any particular industry and could not bring out any case of violation of norms against any particular industry or dereliction of duty on the part of any particular official of the MPPCB. He could not corroborate/substantiate the averments made in the Application that officials of MPPCB indulged in dereliction of their duties in allowing the polluting industries to continue to operate and hence shall be initiated with disciplinary action.

We have perused the replies filed by the MPPCB and heard the arguments made by the parties. It is a fact that under RTI Act the MPPCB has furnished a list of industries in the State of MP in which parameters were found beyond the prescribed limits under the Water and Air Acts for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08 as well as for the year 2012-13. However, it is evident that the MPPCB is conducting the general monitoring as well as legal monitoring and after getting the results of the analysis of the samples, initiating prosecution under legal monitoring wherever it was found that the prescribed norms are not followed and under general monitoring necessary follow-up action is being taken to issue notices to the industries to improve the pollution control measures and also upgrade the technologies and ensure that emissions are maintained and effluents are discharged within the prescribed standards.

The Applicant's averments are general in nature. By just enclosing copies of the lists furnished by the MPPCB under the RTI Act, he jumped to the conclusion that consent is granted/renewed to all the listed industries and they are permitted to continue their operations even though they are allegedly violating environmental norms and not maintaining the required pollution standards. In our opinion, since the Applicant has not brought out any specific case against any particular industry found violating the norms or any particular officer of MPPCB for the alleged dereliction of duties in granting of permission in violation of the aforesaid Acts, we will not be able to issue any directions to take action against any particular industry or officer. However, the MPPCB, being the authority vested with powers and responsibilities under the various environmental Acts and Rules particularly under the Air and Water Acts, shall always strive to ensure that the industries permitted to establish and operate follow the prescribed environmental standards and initiate strict action against those which are flouting the norms, in accordance with law. The Applicant is free to approach this Tribunal whenever he comes across with any specific case of violation of norms/standar ds by any particular industry.

With the above observations, we feel that it is no longer necessary to keep the OA pending and accordingly we dispose it. There is no order as to costs.