JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J

1. Admit.

2 This appeal under Section 22 of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010¹[“NGT Act”] arises from a judgment and order of the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal²[“NGT”] dated 28 September 2018, by which it dismissed OA No 81 of 2014 (WZ).

3. OA No 81 of 2014 (WZ), instituted under Sections 14 and 15 of the NGT Act, was pending before the NGT for nearly four years since July 2014. It had been filed by the appellants, who are environmental organisations and individuals directly affected by the degradation of the environment in the area in question. The OA pertained to the issue of the dumping of unsegregated and untreated Municipal Solid Waste³[“MSW”] at an open landfill site admeasuring 188 hectares at Survey No 111 /A, Block No 177, Khajod Village, Taluka Choryasi in the district of Surat, which is surrounded by thirty-five villages. The landfill site had been set up by the fourth respondent, Surat Municipal Corporation⁴[“SMC”] , which had started dumping 850 Metric Tonnes of waste per day on 24 January 2003. The extent of dumping increased to 1600 Metric Tonnes of waste per day by 16 January 2014. It was alleged, inter alia, th