Ennore oil spill: NGT grants interim relief to CPCL, stays TNPCB's order demanding Rs 73 crore for damages
CHENNAI: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on March 19 granted temporary relief to Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) by issuing an interim stay on a Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) order demanding Rs 73.68 crore.
The amount comes as a compensation for socio-economic and environmental damages caused by an oil spill in Ennore Creek in December 2023.
The tribunal, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati, directed CPCL to deposit Rs 19 crore—50% of the environmental damage cost of Rs. 38.24 crore—within four weeks as a bank guarantee.
The appeal was argued by Senior Counsel Abdul Saleem, representing CPCL, who challenged the TNPCB’s compensation order, asserting that the quantification of the oil spill—pegged at 517 tonnes by an IIT-Madras report—was erroneous.
Saleem argued that expert objections to the report were yet to be filed, questioning the basis of the penalty.
The TNPCB had calculated the damages using a methodology from Vietnam’s Institute of Marine Environment and Resource, arriving at Rs 35.43 crore for socio-economic losses and Rs 38.24 crore for environmental harm.
Usually, the NGT mandates a 50 per cent deposit of the total compensation in such cases, which would have amounted to Rs 36.84 crore. However, the tribunal reduced the requirement, offering CPCL respite.
The NGT also issued a notice to the TNPCB and adjourned the matter to April 30 for further hearing.
The TNPCB’s original order had threatened CPCL with closure and disconnection of electricity if the amount wasn’t paid, following an environmental impact assessment by IIT-Madras and a technical team’s review.
The December 2023 spill has drawn widespread attention due to its ecological and social repercussions in Ennore.