Top executives of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) did not appear in the Raigarh court today, as the summons issued by the court could not be served for the company’s alleged violation of environment norms in connection with its captive power plant near Dongamahua.
On October 15, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Raigarh, Sanjay Soni, had delivered an order to register a case against JSPL and three of its top executives on a petition filed by the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) regional officer, John Lakra. The court asked the officials to appear before it on October 29.
The three JSPL officials were Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vikrant Gujaral, Joint Managing Director Anand Goyal and Executive Director P P Singh.
“The summons issued by the court to the JSPL executives were not served and hence they did not appear for the hearing today,” public prosecutor and the board’s lawyer, O P Beriwal, said. The court would decide the next date for hearing, he added.
The case pertains to JSPL’s 600-Mw captive power plant near Dongamahua, about 40 km from Raigarh and 250 km from here. The company had reportedly started the work for the second unit of 300 Mw, while it had permission for the first 300 Mw only. The second unit was being constructed without getting environment clearances.
A complaint was lodged with the Union environment ministry against JSPL for violating the environment norms. The senior officials of the board visited the spot and found the complaint to be true as structures including a turbine and chimney were erected in alleged violation of the Environment Impact Assessment Rules, 2006.
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The officials asked JSPL to immediately stop the construction work.
Lakra filed the petition in the court to lodge criminal offence against JSPL and top officials for violating the environment norms.
This is the second time in last three months when the steel major had been charged with violating environment norms. Earlier, the state government had stopped the construction work of its 2,400-Mw power plant in Raigarh district.