Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Delhi Govt's Plea Against Thermal Plants In Neighboring States

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed as withdrawn a petition filed by Delhi Government seeking directions to 10 coal fired thermal power plants in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that have not installed the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) to immediately cease operations till such time as the FGD technology is installed.

A bench comprising Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Subhash Reddy considered the writ petition filed by Government of NCT of Delhi through its Deputy Secretary (Environment). The bench said that the Delhi Government  is at liberty to intervene in the ongoing case where the Supreme Court is considering the issue of air pollution in National Capital Region (MC Mehta case).

The plea sought directions to quash and set aside the directions dated 16th October 2020 issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the thermal power plants extending the deadline for installation of the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD)

Further, the Government of Delhi urged the Court to quash and set aside the Notification dated 31.03.2021 issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change amending and extending the timelines for complying with the emission norms by coal based power plants

The plea also sought directions to the Power Plant Operators and regulatory authorities i.e the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to provide the Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Data (OCEMS) in public domain on their respective websites without any password protection. The same was sought to ensure that it can be monitored by general public and researchers to enhance operability of the pollution control devices by the plant operators installed at their respective plants as per the emission norms laid down in the Notification dated 07.12.2015.

The plea has argued that as a result of the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) technology not being installed, these plants are causing pollution much above the acceptable norms thereby contributing significantly to air pollution in Delhi.

"These 10 power plants contribute to about 5% of the air pollution of Delhi and this is a significant single point contributor to air pollution. Despite many interventions by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Supreme Court, the Central and the State Governments there has been hardly any progress in controlling this pollution and the approach of the state governments and the 10 power plant operators is to deny that the FGD is necessary at all despite the overwhelming evidence in favour of installation of this technology and, if this argument fails, to delay the implementation of this technology as much as possible", the plea read