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Judgment
By this order we shall dispose of Miscellaneous Application No. 1227 of 2015 filed in Review Application No. 30 of 2015, seeking directions in relation to orders of the Tribunal dated 22nd January, 2015, 3rd July, 2015 and 15th September, 2015. Vide judgement dated 1st May, 2014, the Tribunal had passed various directions in relation to prevention and control of pollution by textile industries and cases of numerous industries were disposed of by that judgment. A statutory appeal was filed by the Rajasthan Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Limited (for short 'RIICO'), being Civil Appeal No. 6824 of 2015, before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and was dismissed by the said court. Even a Review Application being R.A. No. 1959 of 2015 filed in the said appeal was also dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated 6th August, 2015 which is as under:
"IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
REVIEW PETITION (C) NO. 1959 OF 2015
CIVIL APPEAL NO. D. 6824 OF 2015
RAJASTHAN STATE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION LTD. AND ANR. VERSUS
......PETITIONER
M/S LAXMI SUITING AND ORS.
......RESPONDENT
ORDER
We have gone through the Review Petition and the connected papers. We see no reason to interfere with the order impugned. The Review Petition is, accordingly dismissed.
...........CJI
(H.L. DATTU)
..............J.
(ARUN MISHRA)
New Delhi,
AUGUST 06, 2015"
The Applicant then filed a M.A. No. 818/2014 seeking certain directions. M.A. No. 818/2014 came to be disposed of vide order dated 3rd July, 2015. In this very M.A. No. 818/2014, the Tribunal vide its order dated 22nd January, 2015 had held that the imposition of Rs. 5 Lakh on the basis of 'Polluter Pays Principle' is uniform and there cannot be any distinction or exemption made to that and the pollution control board was directed to file status report. The order dated 3rd July, 2015 reads as under:
"M.A. No. 818 of 2014 in Original Application No. 358 of 2013 (THC)
We direct the Member Secretary of Rajasthan Pollution Control Board who is present in person before the court to file his personal affidavit as well as the affidavit of the concerned Secretary of the State of Rajasthan showing complete compliance of the Judgment dated 01st May, 2014 which has already attained finality.
Affidavit will clearly show steps taken and projected time for complete compliance of the directions as well as what steps are still required to be taken. No analysis report on the groundwater in this area has been placed before the Tribunal despite our specific directions. Let analysis reports be jointly prepared by the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board, IIT, Jodhpur or IIT, Delhi. Analysis should be done within fifteen days from today.
We grant liberty to the Applicant in M.A. No. 818 of 2014 to submit before the Board, complete data and information in relation to various objections that have been raised by the Board from time to time. Such application as have been moved including for grant of consent, the same shall be dealt with by the Board in accordance with law.
In view of the facts that Judgment of the Tribunal has already attained finality, we do not see any reason to vary from our order.
With the above directions the M.A. No. 818 of 2014 stands disposed of.
Chairman of RIICO shall be present before the Tribunal on the next date of hearing.
M.A. No. 882 of 2014 In Original Application No. 451 of 2013 (THC)
Nobody is present on behalf of Applicant. Consequently M.A. No. 882 of 2014 is dismissed for default of appearance.
With the above orders, M.A. No. 882 of 2014 stands disposed of.
Original Application No. 358 of 2013 (THC) & Original Application No. 451 of 2013 (THC)
List these matters on 30th July, 2015."
The Applicant then filed a Review Application No. 30/2015 before the Tribunal seeking review of the main judgment and praying that the sum of Rs. 5 Lakhs required to be paid in terms of the final judgment of the Tribunal should be waived and also pray for modifying the order dated 3rd July, 2015. R.A. No. 30/2015 came to be dismissed by order of the Tribunal dated 15th September, 2015. Against none of these orders the applicant has preferred any appeal before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and they have also attained finality thereof. By the present application, the applicant prays for modification of all these orders as well as for issuance of certain directions/orders primarily on the ground that the case of the applicant is an exception to the generalised case of industries covered under the Judgment of the Tribunal in the case of M/s Laxmi Suiting V. State of Rajasthan, (2014 ALL INDIA NGT REPORTER DELHI (I)). Further, the unit is not a polluting unit; they are involved in dry printing and has a discharge of only 2 to 3 KLD. They are a member of the CETP and even the small discharge is treated at the primary level and then sent to the CETP, hence they should not be liable to pay a sum of Rs. 5 Lakhs in terms of Judgement of the Tribunal dated 1st May, 2014.
We have already noticed that the Tribunal vide its judgment dated 1st May, 2014 have disposed of 62 different appeals of the textile industries in the industrial estate and other surrounding areas in state of Rajasthan as they were causing serious pollution of the ground water as well as for not discharging their effluents in the conveyer belt of CETP and also for the CETP was incapable of treating the effluents that they were discharging. Thus, different directions were issued in the said judgment in respect of all industries, for up-gradation of existing CETP and establishment of new CETP. The industrial units were directed to pay a sum of Rs. 5 Lakhs on the basis of 'Polluter Pays Principle'. Also, the State Government of Rajasthan and RIICO were directed to invest a large amount of money to prevent and control the pollution caused by these industries.
Now, again the applicant has filed the present M.A. No. 1227 of 2015 in Review Application No. 30 of 2015 praying for the review of the above orders on same grounds and for the same reasons. The present application at the outset would be barred by the Principle of Res Judicata. Furthermore, this application has been filed much beyond the period of limitation as the order was of the date 15th September, 2015 while the present application has been filed on 24th November, 2015. The Limitation provided under Section 16 of the National Green Tribunal Act (for short 'NGT Act') is 30 days. Be that as it may, the reasons given by the applicant does not constitute a ground for recalling or modifying the judgment of this Tribunal dated 1st May, 2014. The applicant had submitted an application to the Chairman of the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board (for short 'the Board') informing the same facts and praying that the consent may be granted to them in accordance with law. We see that the said application is pending with the Board. According to the applicant, they have also given report of analysis from the Board whether the parameters like pH, oil and grease are shown to be within the prescribed period of limitation. While declining to modify in any manner, our judgment dated 1st May, 2014, we dispose of this application with the direction to the RSPCB to consider the application for grant of consent to the applicant industry in accordance with law. If the Board finds that the applicant is a 'No Discharge Unit' or the averments made herein are factually correct, they would proceed in accordance with law. The Inspection team would also state in their report as to the 4 washing tanks which had been constructed by the applicant in their premises and what was the use of these tanks thereof and if there is no discharge or hardly any discharge as claimed by the applicant, why those tanks are not dismantled till now. The Board would place the copy of that inspection report and analysis report before the Tribunal and pass an order on the application of the applicant and convey the same to the applicant expeditiously.
With the above directions, declining any other relief to the applicant, the present application is disposed of without any order as to costs.