Partly allowed

Kaushal Kishore Vishwakarma vs

NGT7 Apr 2025IA No. 250/2025 in Original Application No. 620/2022

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The court allowed an application by respondent- Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd. to waive costs due to bona fide administrative oversight. Directions were issued to rectify defects in the respondent- MoEF response. The matter is listed for final hearing after completion of pleadings.

What did the court decide?

Waiver of costs of Rs. 1 lakh imposed on respondent no. 11-Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd.; defect in MoEF response to be rectified.

Kaushal Kishore Vishwakarma vs — NGT (2025) — LawSathi Research

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Item No. 07

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Court No. 2

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BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI

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Original Application No. 620/2022 ( I.A. No. 250/2025 )

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Kaushal Kishore Vishwakarma

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Applicant

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Versus

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State of Punjab & Ors.

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Respondents

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Date of hearing: 07.04.2025

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CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER HON’BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER

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Applicant: None for the applicant. Respondents: Mr. Udit Vaghela, Advocate for respondent no. 2-PPCB. Mr. Ramandeep Singh, EE and Mr. Ravideep Singla, EE, PPCB. Mr. Vivek Kohli, Senior Advocate with Mr. Juvas Rawal and Ms. Vasudha Chadha, Advocates for respondents no. 4, 7 and 10. Mr. S K Jha, Executive Director, Ms. Seema Chawla, DGM, Mr. Mahesh Patil, CM and Mr. Narinder Singh, CM, NFL, Panipat and Mr. Tarun Batra, CGM, Ms. Sandhy Batra, GM, Mr. Gurpreet, SM and Mr. Puneet Jain, DM, NFL Bhatinda. Ms. Cauveri Birbal, Mr. Kamlendu Pandey , Advocate for respondent no. 5 - M/s. Shubham Sales with Mr. Nupinder Singh Sivia and Mr. Jagtar Singh Walia, Partner. Mr. Rahul Khurana and Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Advocates for respondents no. 6- HSPCB. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal and Mr. Aman Kohli, Advocates for respondent no. 8- MoEF & CC with Mr. Vinod Kumar Singh, Scientist F, MoEF & CC. Mr. Vikrant Panchnanda and Mr. Mukul Katyal, Advocates for respondent no. 9-CPCB with Mr. Nazmuddin Scientist F and Ms. Deepti Kapil Scientist E, CPCB. Ms. Sonia A. Menon, Advocate for respondent no. 11 with Mr. Zubair Khan, Senior Manager Law (through VC), Ms. Nishtha Kunal Munshi, Senior Manager and Mr. Manoj Pandey, Project Manager, MSTC.

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ORDER

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Affidavit dated 24.03.2025 has been filed by respondent no. 4-NFL Bhatinda and affidavit dated 28.03.2025 has been filed by respondent no. 7-NFL Panipat.

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Status report dated 04.04.2025 has been filed by respondent no. 11-Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd.

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I.A. No. 250/2025 has been filed by respondent no. 11-Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd. for waiver of costs of Rs. 1 lakh imposed vide order dated 06.03.2025. The applicant respondent no. 11-Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd. has sought waiver of costs on the following grounds:-

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“3. That the Applicant, with utmost respect and humility, seeks waiver of the imposed costs. The Applicant submits that although as per this Hon'ble Tribunal's observation, notice was served via email, due to a significant communication gap and internal administrative transitions within the organization, the notice did not reach the appropriate department/officials responsible for handling legal matters.

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4. The dealing officer for this e-auction held in 2017 had left the MSTC company in 2020 and currently, the disposal of NFL Bathinda is managed by the MSTC Chandigarh office. However, since the auction was originally conducted by the MSTC Northern Regional Office, case responses are now being handled by Shri Manoj Pandey, Manager and legal matters are overseen by Smt. Nishtha K. Munshi, Senior Manager, both from MSTC NRO. It is worth mentioning here that there is another case pending between the parties pertaining to refund of payment by NFL towards short delivery of material and previously was listed on 16.10.2024, 16.11.2024, 02.12.2024, 04.01.2025, 11.01.2025, 21.01.2025, 07.02.2025, 04.03.2025, 21.03.2025 and the next date of hearing is 25.04.2025. The officers of the Applicant under a bonafide impression that the said notice, is a routine communication of the said matter, did not pay the due attention to it and as such there was no appearance before this Hon'ble Tribunal on the said date.

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5. It is stated that the said lapse was bonafide and out of inadvertence, for which the dealing officer has been warned to be extremely careful in future. The Applicant unconditionally apologizes to this Hon'ble Tribunal for the unfortunate oversight and the inconvenience caused to this Hon'ble Court.”

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We have heard learned Counsel for applicant-respondent no. 11Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd. with regard to the above said I.A. and gone through the relevant record.

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In view of the facts and circumstances explained in the above said I.A. as well as unconditional apology tendered and by taking a lenient view I.A. No. 250/2025 is allowed and costs of Rs. 1 lakh imposed on applicant - respondent no. 11-Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Ltd. vide order dated 06.03.2025 are waived.

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Mr. S K Jha, Executive Director, Ms. Seema Chawla, Deputy General Manager, Mr. Mahesh Patil, CM and Mr. Narinder Singh, CM, NFL Panipat and Mr. Tarun Batra, CGM, Ms. Sandhy Batra, General Manager, Mr. Gurpreet, SM, Mr. Puneet Jain, Deputy Manager, NFL Bhatinda and Mr. Vinod Kumar Singh, Scientist F, MoEF & CC and Mr. Nazmuddin Scientist F and Ms. Deepti Kapil Scientist E, CPCB. Ms. Nishtha Kunal Munshi, Senior Manager and Mr. Manoj Pandey, Project Manager MSTC. Mr. Ramandeep Singh, Environmental Engineer and Mr. Ravideep Singla, Environmental Engineer, PPCB have appeared before this Tribunal physically and Mr. Zubair Khan, Senior Manager Law, MSTC has appeared before this Tribunal through VC.

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We have heard submissions made by the officers and also by learned Counsel for the respondents.

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Learned Counsel for respondent no. 8-MoEF & CC has submitted that response has been filed by respondent no. 8-MoEF & CC.

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However, the response filed by respondent no. 8-MoEF & CC is stated to be under some defect.

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Defect may be removed by respondent no. 8-MoEF & CC and thereafter the same may be placed on record.

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In case the defect is not so removed, the response as under defect be placed on record before the next date of hearing fixed.

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List on 16.05.2025 for final hearing.

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Pleading may be completed before that date and if any response/additional response is desired to be filed by any of the respondents then the same may be filed within one month.

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Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM

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Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM

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April 07^th ,2025 Original Application No. 620/2022 AG

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Kaushal Kishore Vishwakarma vs

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Kaushal Kishore Vishwakarma vs

Case brief

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What did the court decide?

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