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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1,000 crore on the Punjab government for failing to manage the state’s solid and liquid waste despite repeated reminders. The NGT has directed that the Punjab government deposit the total environmental fine of Rs 10,261,908,000 with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) within one month.
Additionally, the tribunal has issued show cause notices to top officials, asking for their explanations.
The NGT calculated this penalty based on environmental fines over the past six months which involves:
1. Legacy waste: The tribunal stated that it has adopted a generous approach while calculating that the current legacy waste generation of 5.387 million tonnes (5,387,000,000 kg), at Rs 0.01 per kg per day for the past six months (180 days), which amounts to Rs 9,696,600,000.
2. Untreated sewage: According to records, there is a gap of 314.06 MLD (314,060,000 million litres per day) in sewage treatment as of June 2024. The tribunal estimated that untreated sewage, at Rs 0.01 per litre per day for 180 days, amounts to Rs 565,308,000.
The NGT underlined that Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 apply in this case.
The tribunal has ordered the Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) of Punjab to file their responses within one month.
The order was issued by the bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and Expert Member A. Senthil on July 25, 2024. The next hearing in the case will be held on September 27, 2024.
In addition to the penalty, the NGT has questioned why legal action should not be initiated against top officials for failing to comply with previous tribunal orders.
On September 22, 2022, the NGT had previously imposed a penalty of Rs 2,080 crore on the Punjab government, directing that this amount be deposited in a ring-fenced account.
However, the tribunal found that neither a ring-fenced account was created nor was the penalty amount deposited.
The bench noted that the non-compliance with the September 22, 2022, orders, which requires the creation of a ring-fenced account for Rs 2,080 crore, constitutes a violation under Section 26 of the NGT Act, 2010.
This case was transferred to the NGT from the Supreme Court under the title Almitra H. Patel vs. Government of India in September 2014.
After the Solid Waste Management Rules were notified on April 8, 2016, the NGT issued detailed orders on December 12, 2016. Since then, the case has been reviewed by the tribunal due to non-compliance by States and Union Territories.
On March 7, 2019, the Chief Secretary of Punjab submitted a status report to the tribunal. Based on this and the CPCB report from the same day, the NGT found significant violations and incomplete work. The tribunal also noted the state’s failure to address damage recovery issues.
In a 2020 report by CPCB, the tribunal found the state’s compliance with orders to be unsatisfactory. On January 10, 2020, the Chief Secretary of Punjab appeared before the tribunal, and the report presented revealed significant discrepancies in solid and liquid waste generation and treatment.
The tribunal’s order on January 10, 2020, highlighted expired statutory timelines and non-compliance with Supreme Court and tribunal orders regarding Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The tribunal had directed the state to undertake monitoring and assess the penalty amount, but the Punjab government failed to act.
On February 22, 2021, the tribunal ordered further monitoring at the Chief Secretary level, but improvements were not observed. Then, on July 25, 2022, the Chief Secretary of Punjab appeared before the tribunal but did not file any response. The tribunal noted the failure in solid and liquid waste management and discrepancies in waste treatment data.
On September 22, 2022, the NGT imposed a penalty of Rs 2,080 crore. Reports on solid waste management submitted by the Punjab government on May 16 and November 20, 2023, were not accompanied by a six-month progress report.
Consequently, on November 23, 2023, the NGT directed the Chief Secretary of Punjab to submit a progress report within six months.
Due to worsening conditions from 2022 to 2024, the NGT has now imposed the Rs 1,000 crore worth environmental penalty on the Punjab government for the past six months.