The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today set aside an order of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board imposing Rs 10 lakh as pollution cost on DVC Emta coal mines for non-compliance of environmental norms, but warned the company to fulfill the Board's conditions or face action.
While imposing the cost upon DVC Emta, a joint venture of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency (Emta), the board in its March 27, 2012 order had also imposed certain conditions on it.
The NGT bench headed by Justice V R Kingaonkar said the board erred in imposing the fine. However, the tribunal made it clear that if the conditions imposed upon DVC Emta by the board are not complied with, the WBPCB "is at liberty to take further action in accordance with law, including refusal to grant consent to operate".
"We have no hesitation in holding that the WBPCB committed patent error while directing the appellant to pay pollution cost of Rs 10 lakh.... The appeal is allowed and the impugned direction to deposit pollution cost of Rs 10 lakh by the appellant (DVC Emta) is set-aside.
"We make it clear that if the other conditions of the impugned order of March 27, 2012 of WBPCB are not complied with by the appellant, the Pollution Control Board is at liberty to take further action in accordance with law, including refusal to grant consent to operate," it said.
DVC Emta was directed to pay the cost of Rs 10 lakh by the WBPCB for violating norms of the no objection certificate granted to it by the board for setting up an open-cast coal mine in district Birbhum of West Bengal.
The company, as per the WBPCB, had allegedly dumped overburden generated from its mining activity in the nearby river Hingla, a tributary of river Ajoy there, and thus affected the flow of both.
