Partly allowed

Rakesh Kumar v. Union of India

NGT14 Aug 2024IA No. 371/2024 in Original Application No. 582/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This NGT order allowed the impleadment of HCG (KCE) Private Limited as an additional respondent in an appeal alleging air quality deterioration in Hisar. The Court directed the CPCB Scientist who filed a report to virtually appear to assist the Tribunal as the office was not represented by counsel.

What did the court decide?

Allowance of impleadment of HCG (KCE) Private Limited and direction to CPCB officer to appear virtually.

Rakesh Kumar vs Union of India — Environment and Pollution | NGT (2024)

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Item No. 19

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Court No. 1

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BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI

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Original Application No. 582/2024 (IA No. 371/2024)

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Rakesh Kumar Applicant

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Versus

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Union of India & Ors. Respondent(s)

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Date of hearing: 14.08.2024

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CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL JUDICIAL MEMBER HON’BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER

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Applicant: Mr. Pinaki Misra, Senior Advocate with Mr. Pulkit Kapoor, Adv. for Applicant

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Respondents: Mr. Jai Bansal & Mr. Abhishek Verma, Advs. for MoEF & CC

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Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. for R - 2 & 4 Dr. Abhishek Atrey & Ms. Jyoti Verma, Advs. for R – 5 (Through VC) Mr. S.K. Pandey & Mr. Rajan Parmar, Adv. for R - 6

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ORDER

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In this Original Application, applicant has raised the issue of deteriorating air quality in and around District Hisar.

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I.A. No. 371/2024 has been filed by the applicant seeking impleadment of HCG (KCE) Private Limited as the additional respondent. The prayer for impleadment has not been opposed by any of the parties, hence, I.A. No. 371/2024 is allowed. Let the amended memo of parties be prepared.

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In terms of the previous order, CPCB has filed the report under the signature of one Pankaj Agarwal, Scientist-F. No one is present on behalf of the CPCB to assist the Tribunal in examining the report.

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Hence, we direct Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, Scientist-F, CPCB to virtually appear on the next date of hearing. We make it clear that if any authority files a report before the Tribunal directly without routing through its Advocate then the said authority is required to virtually appear and assist the Tribunal.

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Learned Counsel for the applicant has referred to the Annexure R1 of the report of the respondent no. 4, HSPCB and has pointed out that out of 126 industries/units in the area concerned, only about 8 units have switched to PNG fuel and rest of the units are using wood, diesel, coal etc. as a fuel which is leading to the pollution in the area concerned.

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Learned Counsel appearing for the newly added respondents have pointed out that there is no shortage of supply of PNG in the area concerned and Learned Senior Counsel for the applicant has also pointed out that there is 100% coverage of PNG in the said area, therefore, there is no difficulty to the units to switch over to PNG. Learned Counsel for the newly added respondent also submits that the requisite infrastructure for supply of PNG in the concerned area of Hisar is available.

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Since the Counsel for the CPCB or any officer from CPCB is not present, hence, it could not be ascertained if CPCB has framed any regulation for controlling the nature of fuel or switching over to PNG applicable to the area/units concerned.

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List on 06.09.2024.

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Prakash Shrivastava, CP

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Sudhir Agarwal, JM

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Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM

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August 14, 2024 Original Application No. 582/2024 (IA No. 371/2024) SN

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Rakesh Kumar v. Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Rakesh Kumar v. Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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