Supreme Court Condemns NGT for Imposing ₹25 Crore Penalty Without Providing Opportunity for Hearing
The Supreme Court recently expressed its strong disapproval of the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) decision to impose a ₹25 crore penalty on a company without affording them an opportunity to be heard regarding alleged violations of environmental regulations.
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan criticized the NGT's methodology, stating it was entirely unsupported by legal principles. "In any case, the generation of revenue would have no nexus with the amount of penalty to be ascertained for environmental damages. It is further to be noted that the learned NGT found the appellant to be guilty of violations, the least that was expected from the NGT is to give a notice to the appellant before imposing such a heavy penalty. With deep anguish we have to say that the methodology adopted by the learned NGT for imposing penalty is totally unknown to the principles of law," the Court observed in its November 27 ruling.
The judgment overturned the NGT’s 2022 orders against Benzo Chem Industrial Private Limited, a manufacturer of chemical intermediates.
Counsel for Benzo Chem contended that reports from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had found no evidence of non-compliance on their part. Despite this, the NGT concluded otherwise and imposed the penalty, basing the amount on the company’s operational revenue, which ranged between ₹100 crore and ₹500 crore.
The Supreme Court emphasized that NEERI, being a premier institution in environmental sciences, carried significant credibility, and the NGT’s findings of violations spanning over a decade were untenable. The Court also criticized the NGT’s reasoning, noting discrepancies in its assessment of revenue figures. "If the learned NGT had relied on the information available in the public domain, then it would not be difficult for it to come out with the exact figure ... We are, therefore, inclined to quash and set aside the impugned judgments," the Court stated while allowing Benzo Chem's appeal.
The NGT has faced criticism from the Supreme Court in several recent cases. In 2023, the Court admonished the tribunal for issuing orders based on committee and expert reports without properly hearing the affected parties. Similar concerns were raised in rulings in June and February of the same year.
Earlier in January, the Supreme Court criticized the NGT for suggesting the diversion of trucks heading to an Inland Container Depot in Delhi to locations outside the National Capital Region. In another case, the Court censured the tribunal for halting the implementation of Shimla’s draft Development Plan 2041.
Case Title: Benzo Chem Industrial Private Limited v Arvind Manohar Mahajan and ors
Date: November-27-2024
Bench: Justice BR Gavai, Justice KV Viswanathan
[Read/Download order]
