Illegal brick kiln operations without consents warrant closure, environmental compensation, and prosecution under pollution laws.

ORDER

1. This Original Application (hereinafter referred to as ‘O.A’) has been filed in exercise of suo-moto jurisdiction under Section 14 & 15 of National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as ‘NGT Act, 2010’) on a letter petition dated 02.08.2023 received from Santosh Singh, R/o 3/408, Vikram Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, U.P complaining that M/s M/s Baba Brick Field, Village-Karsyora, Tehsil- Laharpur, District- Sitapur, U.P. is operating illegally without Consent from U.P State Pollution Control Board (hereinafter referred to as ‘UPPCB’) since 2018 and causing pollution in violation of provisions of environmental statutes.

2. Cognizance was taken by Tribunal on 18.03.2024 and it impleaded following as respondents:

(1) the State of Uttar Pradesh through District Magistrate, Sitapur,

(2) Member Secretary, UPPCB and (3) the Project Proponent-M/s. Baba Brick Field, Tehsil Laharpur, District Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

3. Tribunal issued notices to respondents and also constituted a Joint Committee comprising representative of UPPCB and District Magistrate, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. Committee was required to submit a factual report within one month.

4. Joint Committee made spot inspection and its observation in the report dated 24.04.2024 are as under:-

Translation by Tribunal

“At the time of inspection, Shri Rasool Ahmed S/o Budhha Ali was present as the unit representative. The site inspection report is as follows:-

1. Before the inspection, a notice was served to the representative of the referred brick kiln. Complainant Shri Santosh Singh could not be contacted as his full address was not available.

2. At the time of inspection, the brick kiln was found to be operational. The kiln produces about 20,000 bricks per day using clay bricks as raw material. The kiln is based on high draft method. The height of the chimney attached to the kiln is about 120 feet above the ground level. During the inspection, the present representative informed that the brick kiln has 11 pillars. 3. The unit representative informed that the brick kiln was established in the year 2018 and is being operated from the year 2019. The brick kiln is registered with the GST Department from 07/12/2018, with registration number 09AELPA9755R1ZJ, a copy of the GST registration certificate is enclosed. The brick kiln has been depositing the registration fee with the District Panchayat from 28/12/2018. A copy of the receipt of the registration fee deposited by the brick kiln with the District Panchayat in the years 2019, 2020, 2021 is enclosed.

4. The receipt for depositing the amount for soil mining by the brick kiln in the year 2019-20 and year 2020-21 has been given by the unit representative, a copy of which is enclosed but the mining permit certificate has not been provided. At present, the brick kiln has not been issued a permit certificate from the mining department for soil mining.

5. At the time of inspection, the work of soil pounding was not being done at the site, but raw bricks were filled in the brick kiln and the work of blowing was being done to bake the bricks. A copy of the photograph taken during the inspection is enclosed.

6. Brick kiln Khasra number-706,707 is located in Village- Karsyora Tehsil Laharpur Police Station-Talgaon, Sitapur. The chimney of the brick kiln is located on Khasra number-706. The latitude and longitude of the brick kiln is marked as 27.637566 and 80.907116. Village-Karsyora is located at a distance of about 400 meters in the east direction from the chimney of the brick kiln, whose population is reported to be more than 1000, Village-Den Nagar is located at a distance of about 700 m