Gujarat High Court Dismisses PIL Against Nayara Refinery, Says Pollution Control Board Monitoring Emission On Daily Basis

The Gujarat High Court has dismissed a PIL against oil refinery Nayara for allegedly emitting hazardous substances and polluting Vadinar Village in Devbhumi Dwarka.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice A.J. Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav observed the prayers cannot be accepted without any cogent material produced by the petitioner or the case put forward by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board that the continuous monitoring was made through OCEMS system.

The Court was told that there was continuous supervision and verification by a system known as Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS) installed on the basis of SMS alerts received by the board.

Some emission on the part of the private company...after calculating damage as per the criteria provided under various provisions and resolutions / notifications, the company was awarded a fine of Rs.61,20,000, the Court was informed.

It was the grievance of the petitioner that the Pollution Board had not properly calculated the amount of fine to be paid by the company for violating several environmental pollutants under the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986. The counsel appearing for the petitioner, Jitendra Malkan submitted that the respondent company was registered on August 6, 2015 and since then, such hazardous waste were remitted which causes pollution.

The counsel appearing for the Pollution Board, Brijesh Ramanuj submitted that it decided to close the proceedings against the company after the fine, duly calculated, was deposited.

The court observed that after imposing aforesaid, the Board further directed the company to comply with the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to ensure that uninterrupted connectivity with Pollution Control Board survives so that monitoring can be made through OCEMS.

It thus dismissed the petition.

Case Title: Ishrat Bhaya v. Central Pollution Control Board

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 56

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