Rajiv Narayan & Anr vs Union of India & Ors

M.A. No. 57/2023 & M.A. No. 58/2023

The issue of unscientific generation and unscientific dumping of hazardous waste resulting in serious and irreversible damage to the environment and public health was raised in Writ Petition (C) No. 657/1995 and directions were issued for preparation of comprehensive report on illegal hazardous waste dump sites, inventory of generation of such waste, National inventory for rehabilitation of hazardous waste, dump site and regulation of import etc.

The matter was taken up by this Tribunal in O.A. No. 804/2017, Rajiv Narayan & Anr. vs. Union of India and vide order dated 26.08.2019, the Tribunal disposed of the matter with direction to the State to set up the TSDF within a time frame and with further direction to all the States which have not set up TSDF, to do so upto 31.03.2020 and in case of failure, will be liable to pay environmental compensation at the rate of Rs. 10 lakh per month.

This Miscellaneous Application has been moved to enforce the order by the State of Bihar with further prayer for grant of CTO to Applicant’s company by the Bihar State Pollution Control Board. During, the  course  of  hearing,  learned  Counsel  for  the  applicant  has  drawn attention  of  this  Tribunal  towards  the  order  passed  by  Bihar  State Pollution  Control  dated  16.01.2023  communicated  to  the  applicant’s company by reference no. B-168. The observations are as follows:-

“

i. The Industry/Plant site is lying within the confines (flood plain) of the Sone fluvial belt;

ii. The Industry/Plant site is located in a private land very close to river Ganga, which was purchased by them before seeking Consent-to-Establishment(CTE) from BSPCB and EC from MoEF&CC;

iii. No approval has been obtained for any approach road for the movement of vehicles for different purposes;

iv. During rainy season, when river Sone is at IIFL or close to HFL, the flood inundation is observed in the surroundings of the Industry/Plant site, which is highly objectionable;

v. The Ramky Industry is situated in the main channel vicinity in a Private land (Figure 3), which was not studied prior to the procurement of the land;

vi. The above-mentioned points and the site is not found suitable for the Installation and Operation of Hazardous waste.

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Considering the nature of the project i.e. dealing with Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal thereof. It will be inherently danger to permit such an activity at the present site and in case there is flood it may lead to escape of hazardous substance mixed with flood water which may lead to serious and irreversible damage to environment and human health in the downstream areas.

In view of above discussion and the 'Precautionary Principle the Consent-to-Operate', your application no. 5541106, dated 23.12.2021 has been rejected by the Chairman, BSPCB.”

Aggrieved by the order, the applicant filed an Appeal before Board of Revenue, Bihar Patna, which is pending as Case No. 6/2023. Since, the matter of siting criteria was considered by the Competent Authority and considering the nature of the project dealing with the Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage and Disposal, the location was not found fit. The referred area which may lead to serious and irreversible damage to environment and human health and thus, the application with consent to operate was rejected by the Competent Authority against which the Appeal is pending.

Since, the appeal is pending, thus, it is not desirable to intervene in the matter. However, we expect that the applicant may move an application before the Competent Authority/Court for early disposal of the case and Competent Court may take a suitable decision as per law.

However, we direct the State of Bihar to strictly implement the directions issued by this Tribunal in Original Application referred above, and to comply with provisions of Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 in letter and spirit and submit the compliance report to the Registrar of NGT Eastern Zonal Bench, Kolkata within 30 days by e-mail preferably in the form of searchable PDF/ OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF. If any further direction appears to be necessary, the Registrar may place the matter before the Bench for further direction.

With these observations, Miscellaneous Applications stands disposed of accordingly.