Tannuka Juneja
The National Green Tribunal has revised the environmental compensation of Rs 4.4 crore imposed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on a jeans dyeing factory in the Bawana Industrial Zone to Rs 15 lakh.
The plant was fined in 2019 because its waste treatment plant was not operational and the waste was dumped directly in the sewers.
The court amended the fine saying there was a lack of information to determine the amount of the fine. Moreover, It believes that the closure caused damage to the factory and that it did not earn enough to pay such a huge amount.
Earlier, after the DPCC ordered the closure of the plant and the payment of environmental compensation, the respondent went to court and argued that the inspection had not been carried out in accordance with the water law procedure and that the amount of pollution was only an estimate.
The factory said the penalty does not take into account the financial situation of the appellant, whose business was closed following losses during COVID-19. The court observed that the DPCC assessed the amount of compensation without any data or reasonable estimate or recovery plan.
