Green tribunal pulls up pollution board, water authority for ignoring orders
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to Member Secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) and Member Secretary of Haryana Water Resources Authority (HWRA) for failing to submit compliance reports regarding the discharge of untreated industrial effluents in Panipat.
The Tribunal observed that neither authority has submitted any compliance report in connection with the Tribunal’s earlier directives, despite clear orders to do so within a fixed timeframe.
The case stems from a complaint filed by Ramesh Kumar, a farmer from Chulkana village, who approached the NGT last year over environmental damage caused by a liquor manufacturing unit — Haryana Organics Ltd. in Samalkha. He alleged that untreated chemical effluents and gases from the unit were harming his crops.
Acting on the complaint, the NGT in February last year constituted a joint committee comprising officials from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), HSPCB and the Panipat SDM. Following their inspection on March 14, the committee submitted a report to the NGT on May 28, confirming that untreated effluents were being discharged into Drain No. 6, causing damage to nearby agricultural fields.
Based on the findings, the NGT had on October 25 last year imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 33.90 lakh on the unit. It also directed the HSPCB and HWRA to take a series of actions, including cleaning the full stretch of the contaminated drain, ensuring no further discharge of industrial effluents or sewage, conducting regular water quality analysis, ensuring safe disposal of boiler ash, conducting periodic audits under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 and preparing and implementing a local environment improvement plan using Rs 22 lakh from the compensation.
The HWRA was also instructed to decide on a pending application dated June 19, 2022, within three months.
The Tribunal had mandated that action be completed within three months, and the compliance report be submitted within one month of action taken. However, the Principal Bench of the NGT, headed by chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, said: “No such compliance report by or on behalf of the Member Secretary, HSPCB or HWRA has been received.”
Consequently, the Bench has served fresh notices, asking both officials to file affidavits explaining why the Tribunal’s directions were not complied with and why the compliance report has not been filed so far.
Haryana Tribune