NGT orders criminal action against Telangana officials

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered criminal proceedings against officials of the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSPGCL) for undertaking construction of a 1,280-Mw thermal power plant project without mandatory environmental clearance. The order, passed by the Southern bench of the tribunal on July 11, requires that penal proceedings be initiated within four weeks of the judgment. In its

defence, TSPGCL said the construction of the project had begun only after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao met the then Union environment minister, Prakash Javadekar on February 6, 2015 requesting that “preliminary works be taken up after the issue of the Terms of Reference to save delay”, it said its affidavit before the tribunal.  According to environmental clearance procedures, the terms of reference are given to the project developer at the start of the evaluation process. Based on these terms, the project developer carries an environmental impact assessment which is then presented before the public for comments. Subsequently, the environment ministry’s expert committee appraises the project and then the ministry approves the project based on the experts’ recommendations. A project is permitted to start construction activity only after this final approval of the environment ministry. The Telangana power project began without waiting for the process to be completed, the state corporation admitted before the tribunal. The Environment Protection Act, 1986 provides for up to Rs 1 lakh of fine and up to five years of prison term for violation of its provisions. So far, the government has never put anyone behind bars for violation of the law. The petitioners in the case, Human Rights Forum, Telangana had also asked for a financial penalty on the company on the basis of ‘polluters pay’ principle through their lawyers Ritwick Dutta and Rahul Chaudhary. The NGT noted that earlier fines up to five per cent of the project cost had been imposed for similar violations, but keeping in mind that in the present case it was a government company, the tribunal decided not to impose the costs. Hauling up the state pollution control board, the tribunal said: “We are at a loss to understand as to why the Board has not chosen to take any penal action against the officials of the third respondent (the state power company) who are responsible for such activity.” The tribunal has also asked the environment ministry’s expert body to decide if the project can now be appraised for clearance or not and take an independent call on the future of the power plant.

 National Green Tribunal (NGT)