JUDGMENT

1. This Original Application has been preferred with the prayers that respondent No.1- Managing Director, M/s. Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd. be permanently directed to be shut down due to the violations of environmental laws at its end; respondent No.2- Regional Officer, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board; respondent No.3- Chief Executive Officer, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation; respondent No.4- Superintendent Engineer, Thane Irrigation Circle; and respondent No.5- Director, Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health be directed to cancel all the permissions related to respondent No.1 to run the activities in its plants at Ambernath and Airoli; respondent No.2- Regional Officer, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board be directed to review/set aside ‘Consent to Operate’ granted to the respondent No.1; and cost be imposed upon the respondent No.1’s Industry.

2. In the body of this application, it is submitted that the applicant has observed hazardous waste being generated by the respondent No.1’s plant in a close proximity to the Chikhloli Dam, resulting in leachate being generated, which is having capacity to pollute the ground water table. This act is putting the population of Ambernath in jeopardy as the dam provides drinking water supply to the city.

3. It is further mentioned in this application that the respondent No.1- M/s. Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd. is a pharmaceutical company dealing in the business of manufacturing bio-pharmaceutical products, having its Plant at Plot No.K-27, K27/part, K27/1 Additional MIDC, Anand Nagar, Ambernath (East), Thane (hereinafter to be referred in short as "Ambernath Plant") and a research and development unit at Plot No.K-10, Kalwa Industrial Area, Airoli, Navi Mumbai (hereinafter to be referred in short as “R&D unit”). The Respondent No.1’s industry falls under the "Red" Category as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) directions dated 07^th March, 2016. These are the modified directions, under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, regarding harmonization of classification of industrial sectors. As per the CPCB’s directions, pharmaceuticals are mentioned at Sr. No.58, under the "Red" Category. But somehow the Respondent No.1’s industry is operating in Orange Category instead of “Red” Category.

4. It is further mentioned in this application that the "Consent to Operate" issued to the respondent No.1 is not valid and it is also violating various conditions stipulated in the Consent to Operate. It is further mentioned that respondent No.1 operated its Ambernath Plant illegally without "Consent to Operate" for about 6.5 months as the "Consent to Operate" was issued on 28/01/2022, which expired on 30/06/2022. The said Consent was renewed only in January 2023, for which the respondent No.1 had applied on 25/06/2022, i.e., 5 days prior to its expiry. It is further mentioned that given nature of the operations being carried out by the Respondent No.1’s Ambernath Plant, its categorization under Orange Category is erroneous, as it should fall in Red Category because "isolated storage of hazardous chemicals" falls within the ambit of "Red" category, as per the directions provided by the CPCB in March 2016. Further, it is mentioned that pharmaceuticals as an industrial sector, on an individual level fall under the "Red" category. However, the industry has been categorized in the present case as "Orange" instead of "Red" erroneously. Given the nature of activities being carried out, involving massive investments and products, which are Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), category of the industry should be "Red" instead of "Orange".

5. It is further mentioned in this application that the "Pharmaceuticals" has been identified as one, among all the 17 categories of ‘Highly Polluting Industries’, which generate all sorts of pollution. The liquid effluent of the indus