CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has struck down an order of the National Green Tribunal’s southern bench directing the industrial units operating around Manali in North Madras to provide 1% of their annual turnover to the environmental corpus fund, observing that such an order was against the principles of natural justice.
A division bench comprising Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar passed the orders on Thursday while allowing the petitions filed by various private and state-run companies, including the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) and TANGEDCO.
They had moved the High Court against the NGT’s order dated July 20, 2023, that said all companies operating in the Manali complex must deposit 1% of their annual turnover for the corpus fund recommended to be created for environmental remediation purposes.
While quashing the NGT order, the bench said it is of the view that the judgment of the NGT violates principles of natural justice, more so, when this is the final and binding order. “Any amount by way of penalty or tax can be imposed based on an assessment of environmental damage caused by each individual industry if it is authorised by law, and there cannot be uniform levy based on turnover,” the bench said in the order.
Even though the bench concurred that some of the NGT’s decisions were required in the public interest, it said, “The direction to contribute 1% of annual turnover is per se in violation of principles of natural justice as the individual industry was not given a fair opportunity while fixing their liability, especially in the absence of any material for the damage caused by them or about the possible expenditure to remedy the damage caused.”
However, the bench stated that this order does not stand in the way of NGT or the law enforcing agencies to fix liability on the companies for environmental damages if it is permissible in law and by following appropriate procedures of giving an opportunity to hear them.