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2022 Supreme(Online)(NGT) 1803
Item No.04 Court No.1 BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL EASTERN ZONE BENCH, KOLKATA (THROUGH PHYSICAL HEARING WITH HYBRID MODE)
Original Application No.72/2022/EZ Biplab Kumar Chowdhury Applicant(s)
Versus West Bengal Pollution Control Board & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 01.05.2023 CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER HON’BLE DR. ARUN KUMAR VERMA, EXPERT MEMBER For Applicant(s) : None For Respondent(s) : Mr. Prithwish Basu, Adv. for R-1 & 2, Mr. Sudip Kumar Dutta, Adv. for 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 & 12, Ms. Nafisa Yasmin, Adv. for R-13 (in Virtual Mode), Mr. Snehasish Sen, Adv. for R-14 (in Virtual Mode), Mr. Dipanjan Ghosh, Adv. for R-15, Ms. Rashmi Singhee, Adv. for R-16 (in Virtual Mode)
ORDER
1. No one is present on behalf of the Applicant although the name of Mr. Rokon Ali Molla, Mr. Sayan Chattopadhyay and Mr. Raunak Majumdar, are printed in the cause-list.
2. Affidavit dated 29.03.2023 has been filed by Respondent No.16, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; the same is taken on record.
..................................... B. Amit Sthalekar, JM ……..…................................. Dr. Arun Kumar Verma, EM May 1st, 2023 Original Application No.72/2022/EZ MN Item No.04 Court No.1 BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL EASTERN ZONE BENCH, KOLKATA (THROUGH PHYSICAL HEARING WITH HYBRID MODE)
Original Application No.72/2022/EZ IN THE MATTER OF: -
BIPLAB KUMAR CHOWDHURY, Son of Late Birendranath Chowdhury, Residing at 108 M.B. Road, Purbita, Sukanta Sarani, Police Station-Airport, Birati, Kolkata-700051, ………Applicant(s)
Versus
1. WEST BENGAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, Environmental Department, Government of West Bengal, Represented by its Member Secretary, Having office at Paribesh Bhawan, 10A, Block-LA, Sector-III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700106, 2. THE CHAIRMAN, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Paribesh Bhavan, 10A, Block-LA, Sector-III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700106, 3. THE DIRECTOR, Directorate of Mines and Minerals, Govt. of West Bengal, 4, Abanindranath Tagore Sarani, 2nd Floor, Kolkata-700016, 4. THE SENIOR GEOLOGIST, Geological prospecting Branch, North Bengal Unit, Directorate of Mines & Minerals, Govt. of West Bengal, 86, Tara Sankar Road, Deshbandhupara, P.O.-Siliguri Town, District-Darjeeling-734004, 5. THE MINING OFFICER-IN-CHARGE OF SILIGURI ZONE MINING ESTATE BRANCH, Directorate of Mines & Minerals, Govt. of West Bengal, 86, Tara Sankar Road, Deshbandhupara, P.O.-Siliguri Town, District-Darjeeling-734004, 6. THE DISTRICT MAGISTRATE, ALIPURDUAR, Having office at Near Parade Ground Field, Alipurduar, West Bengal-736121, 7. THE ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE AND LAND & LAND REFORMS OFFICER, Having its office at the office of District Magistrate, Alipurduar, Having office at Near Parade Ground Field, Alipurduar, West Bengal-736121, 8. THE SUB-DIVISIONAL OFFICER, ALIPURDUAR, Having office at SDO Building, Near-Parade Ground Field, Alipurduar, West Bengal-736121, 9. THE SUB-DIVISIONAL LAND AND LAND REFORMS OFFICER, ALIPURDUAR, Having office at the office of District Magistrate, Alipurduar, Having office at Near Parade Ground filed, Alipurduar, West Bengal-736121, 10. THE BLOCK LAND & LAND REFORMS OFFICE, KAMAKHYAGURI, Post Office and Police Station-Kamakhyaguri, District-Alipurduar, PIN-736202, 11. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL, Service through the Additional Chief Secretary, Environmental Department, Government of West Bengal, Having its office at 5th Floor, Pranisampad Bhavan, LB-2, Sector-III, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700098, 12. DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIES, COMMERCE AND ENTERPRISE, Mines Branch, Government of West Bengal, Service through its Secretary, Having its office at 4, Abanindranath Tagore Sarani (Camac Street), Kolkata-700016, 13. M/S LARSEN AND TOUBRO LIMITED, Service through Managing Director, Having its registered office at L & T House, Ballard Estate, P.O. Box: 278, Mumbai-400001, 14. M/S SIMPLEX INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED, Service through Managing Director, Having its registered office at Simplex House, 27, Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata-700017, 15. THE STATE LEVEL ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY, Department of Environment, Service through Chairman, Government of West Bengal, Pranisampad Bhawan, Block-LB-II, Salt Lake, Sector-III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700106, 16. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST & CLIMATE CHANGE, Represented through its Secretary, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jorbagh Road, New Delhi-110003 …….Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 01.05.2023 CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER HON’BLE DR. ARUN KUMAR VERMA, EXPERT MEMBER For Applicant(s) : None For Respondent(s) : Mr. Prithwish Basu, Adv. for R-1 & 2, Mr. Sudip Kumar Dutta, Adv. for 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 & 12, Ms. Nafisa Yasmin, Adv. for R-13 (in Virtual Mode), Mr. Snehasish Sen, Adv. for R-14 (in Virtual Mode), Mr. Dipanjan Ghosh, Adv. for R-15, Ms. Rashmi Singhee, Adv. for R-16 (in Virtual Mode)
ORDER
1. The Applicant in this Original Application is alleging that the Respondent Nos. 13 & 14, M/s Larsen and Toubro Limited and M/s Simplex Infrastructure Limited, are operating their Stone Crushing Units in the river bed of Raidhak-II River and are extracting big stones and boulders from the river bed and thereafter they are crushing the said stones into small cubicles of stones and selling the same for commercial gain without obtaining necessary permissions.
2. Learned Counsel has filed Annexure-B (page no. 95 of the paper book), which is a record of proceedings containing the observation and remarks made by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Respondent Nos. 1 & 2, which states that none of the Units during inspection could produce Environmental Clearance though they had Consent to Establish and have applied for renewal of Consent to Operate.
3. It is not clear whether the Consent to Operate has been renewed or not for the Stone Crushing Units of Respondent Nos. 13 & 14. Question is as to whether the Respondent Nos. 13 & 14, Stone Crushing Units had a valid Environmental Clearance granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), West Bengal.
4. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and perused the documents on record. No one is present for the Applicant.
5. The Respondent No.15, State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, West Bengal has filed affidavit dated 16.08.2022 stating therein that stone crushing activity has not been included in the Schedule appended to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, nor is there any provision in the ‘PARIVESH Portal’ of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, for making such application by the Project Proponents.
6. It is also stated that as per the Office Memorandum of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change dated 19.04.2021, all files regarding Environmental Clearance have to be processed strictly through the ‘PARIVESH Portal’.
7. We find that the Principal Bench of the Tribunal vide its order dated 31.01.2019 passed in M.A. No. 13/2019 arising out of Original Application No. 479/2016 (Pravesh Vs. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change & Ors.), had directed that stone crushing units shall mandatorily obtain prior Environmental Clearance.
8. That being the legal position, it does not stand to reason as to why the ‘PARIVESH Portal’ of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, should not contain any provision or any mention in the Schedule in the EIA Notification, 2006, for stone crushing units to apply for grant of Environmental Clearance.
9. Accordingly, the Respondent No.16, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change was directed to file affidavit disclosing what action has been taken by it with regard to the directions given by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench vide its order dated 31.01.2019 passed in M.A. No.13/2019 arising out of Original Application No.479/2016 (Pravesh vs. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change & Ors.), particularly in view of the fact that the ‘PARIVESH Portal’ of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change does not contain any provision or mention in the Schedule in the EIA Notification, 2006 for stone crushing units to apply for grant of Environmental Clearance.
10. The photographs filed with the Original Application show stone crushing machines operating over a large area where heaps of stone have been piled. At the outset, we may advert to the directions given by the Principal Bench passed in M.A. No.13/2019 in Original Application No.479/2016 vide its order dated 31.01.2019 which reads as under: -
“Vide order dated 19.07.2017 in Original Application No.479/2016, Pravesh Vs. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change & Ors., this Tribunal directed that no stone crushers be permitted to operate unless they obtain consent from the State Pollution Control Board, proper no objection certifi
