The principle of absolute liability applies to hazardous activities, making entities fully responsible for damages caused by negligence in safety compliance.

ORDER

BY HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER

1. The victims of an incident wherein, a blast-occurred in a factory boiler (reactor) resulting in death of 02 persons and severe injuries to 03 persons have come up before this Tribunal by means of the present Original Application (hereinafter referred to as ‘OA’) invoking its jurisdiction under Sections 14 , 15 and 17 of National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as ‘NGT Act, 2010’). Two persons died in the incident are Shankar Lal, son of Vijay Pal and Pravin Kumar, son of Chatru. The persons injured in the incident are Sainky, Sohan Pal and Dinesh. Applicant-1 (Lakshmi) is wife of Shankar Lal (deceased) and applicant-2 (Chatru) is father of Pravin Kumar (deceased). Applicants-3, 4 and 5 are three injured persons who have approached this Tribunal for claiming compensation on account of the damage/injury suffered by them.

2. The facts in brief disclosed in the OA are that M/s. Durga Enterprises, khasra no. 757/1 and 762/2, village-Masoori, Fitkari Road, Meerut through its partners Deepak Jain and Amit Jain, is an industrial unit engaged in the manufacture of rubber oil, tyre oil and black carbon etc. through Pyrolysis or scraped tyres. The process of manufacturing of oil through Pyrolysis process causes high level of pollution and adversely affects health of the workers involved in the process. M/s. Durga Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as ‘industrial unit’) has been operating in violation of the Standard Operating Procedure (hereinafter referred to as ‘SOP’) prescribed by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (hereinafter referred to as ‘MoEF&CC’) and Central Pollution Control Board (hereinafter referred to as ‘CPCB’). A boiler explosion took place on 27.02.2024 in the premises of the industrial unit causing death of Shankar Lal and Pravin Kumar and serious injuries to applicants-3, 4 and 5. The unit was operating without any fixed timing of opening of vaults of boiler, without maintaining any register for maintenance for operating of boiler and even the register of workers was not maintained. There was no provision of temperature and pressure monitoring inside the boiler and it used to be opened in untimely manner even before cooling of gases showing gross negligence on the part of the management. There was no provision for masks and other equipments for safety of workers and proper handling of chemicals. Two deceased who were present to collect black carbon etc. from the boiler immediately died, when the boiler exploded. The deceased were working in the industrial unit for earning their livelihood. After the incident, Assistant Director Factories, Meerut Division and Labour Enforcement Officer, Meerut Division inspected premises of the industrial unit on 04.03.2024 and found that the incident happened due to failure in ensuring explosive limit of Pyro gas which came in contact with Oxygen and other gases in environment when few bolts of boiler were open. On mixture with outer gases, explosion took place in boiler causing death of Shankar Lal and Pravin Kumar and injuries to applicants-3, 4 and 5 who opened the bolts of boiler and in the process, got injured. Assistant Director Factories and Labour Enforcement Officer, Meerut Division found following major violations:

“I) Absence of Inspection register

J) On the said day of explosion, the boiler was opened 2 hours before the prescribed time

K) Absence of sensor to monitor the limit of