Judgment

1. The applicants Prasoon Pant and Pradeep Kumar have filed the present application under sections 14, 15, 18 (1) and Section 20 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 seeking following reliefs:-

(cid:147)1. Direct the respondent authorities to take action including stoppage of all construction against the project proponent Durga Enterprises Pvt Ltd for starting construction and selling industrial plots without NOC

2. Direct the respondent authorities to cancel the environmental clearance granted to the industrial park in violation of the EC condition of getting an NOC prior to starting construction.

3. Pass any other orders/directions the Hon(cid:146)ble Tribunal deems fit and proper in the interest of justice and in the facts and circumstances of the case.(cid:148)

2. The grievances of the applicants in the present original application are that respondent no. 8- M/s Durga Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. is building an industrial park called (cid:147)Durga Industrial Park(cid:148) for allocating 366 industrial plots in Rajendra Nagar, a critically polluted area in Shahibabad of District- Ghaziabad, which has been notified as non-attainment city. The industrial park is being carved out from a bigger plot after its sub-division which requires that the nature of industries coming up after sub-division should be homogenous with the original use of the undivided plot (which originally was a glass factory) but in present case the nature of factories is unknown. In OA No 1038/2018 this Tribunal directed that: "No further industrial activities or expansion be allowed with regard to ’red’ and ’orange’ category units till the said areas are brought within the prescribed parameters or till carrying capacity of area is assessed and new units or expansion is found viable having regard to the carrying capacity of the area and environmental norms." No assessment of the Carrying Capacity for such industrial expansion has been conducted by the respondent authorities. SEIAA, UP has granted EC in haste without following the directions and without the compliance of Terms of Reference (ToR) granted prior to EC. No new industry can be accorded NOC for groundwater abstraction in the area which is categorized by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) in its assessment of 2017 and 2020 as Over-Exploited block and "Notified" under the UP Ground Water (Management & Regulation) Act 2019. The Project Proponent is already extracting groundwater illegally as construction work has started and there is no alternative mode of water supply available to the Project Proponent. The said industrial park is being constructed before getting the mandatory Consent to Establish (CTE)/ NOC from Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPCB) as mandated by environmental clearance dated 15.01.2021 given by State level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Uttar Pradesh. The applicants have averred that the UPPCB has twice refused to grant NOC/CTE to the Project Proponent vide letters dated 24.03.2021 and 22.12.2021. The applicants have enclosed copy of letter dated 24.03.2021 written by the UPPCB to the Project Proponent relevant part of which is reproduced as under:-

(cid:147)Sub : Consent To Establish( C.T.E ) Application under section 25/26 of Water (Prevention & Pollution ofcontrol) Act, 1974 as amended and section 21/22 of Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 as amended Kindly refer to your application for Consent to Establish (C.T.E) dated 13/01/2021 received on 13/01/2021 for the proposed Project of M/S DURGA ENTERPRISES PRIVATE LIMITED Expansion of Existing Unit/ Modernization/diversification of existing plant at 1/2m to 468/2m, pasonda, jagola, near rajander nagar metro station, sahibabad ,GHAZIABAD,201005 under section 25/26 of Water (Prevention & Pollution of Control) Act 1974 as amended and section 2l of Air (Prevention & control of Pollution) Act, 1981 as amended.. Your Consent to Establish application is hereby Refused due to following reason