Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Federal Agro Industries Private ... vs Union Of India on 2 November, 2018
Bench: A.K. Sikri, Ashok Bhushan, Ajay Rastogi
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO(S). /2018
(@ CIVIL APPEAL Diary No(s). 41295/2018)
FEDERAL AGRO INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED APPELLANT(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. RESPONDENT(s)
O R D E R
Permission to file appeal is granted.
Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant, has produced before us a copy of the order dated 14.06.2018 passed by this Court in C.A. NO. 5837 of 2018 under similar circumstances where the National Green Tribunal had directed closure of the undertakings without even giving a notice or opportunity of hearing to the appellant in that case. The said order is reproduced herein below:
“1. A perusal of the order passed by the National Green Tribunal on 31.5.2018 indicates that an interim report submitted on behalf of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had mentioned that eight industries were non-compliant. Taking due cognizance of such report, the National Green Tribunal thereafter directed closure of those eight industries. The principal grievance raised by Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned Senior Advocate on behalf of -
1) Reckitt & Benkiser Unit-I, B-170, Phase-I, Eldeco Sidcul Industrial Park, Sitarganj-262405; and 2) Reckitt & Signature Not Verified Benkiser (Wet) Unit-II, B-96, Phase-I, Eldeco Sidcul Digitally signed by ASHWANI KUMAR Date: 2018.11.15 Industrial Park, Sitarganj- 262405, is that the order 16:02:16 IST Reason: under appeal was passed without affording them any opportunity of hearing and that they could as well have satisfied the National Green Tribunal on the merits of matter. He has also invited our attention to order dated 12.6.2018 passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand in SPA 2 Nos.431, 432, 433 & 434 of 2018.
2. The units run by the present appellant, namely, Reckitt Benckiser India Pvt. Ltd., are running industrial units and any closure or suspension will naturally have adverse consequences. Be that as it may. It is apparent that the order under appeal was passed without affording any opportunity to the appellant. On this limited issue, we are of the view that the matter must be considered afresh by the learned National Green Tribunal. We, therefore, set aside the order of closure passed by the National Green Tribunal as against the appellant.
3. The order indicates that the matters are listed on 18.6.2018. The appellant shall appear before the National Green Tribunal on 18.6.2018 and participate in the proceedings.
4. We are conscious that this order is passed without issuing notice to the other side. We find from the record that Mr. Raj Panjwani, learned Senior Advocate, had appeared as an Amicus Curiae in the matter and the process got initiated only upon the submission of the interim report by CPCB. Since the matter is listed before the National Green Tribunal on 18.6.2018, we have taken up this matter at ex-parte stage and disposed of with the aforesaid observations.
5. We have not and shall not be taken to have expressed any opinion on merits of the matter, which shall be gone into independently.” This appeal is also disposed of in terms of the aforesaid order.
......................J. [A.K. SIKRI] ......................J. [ASHOK BHUSHAN] ......................J. [AJAY RASTOGI] NEW DELHI;
NOVEMBER 02, 2018.
3ITEM NO.65 COURT NO.4 SECTION XVII
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
CIVIL APPEAL Diary No(s). 41295/2018 FEDERAL AGRO INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED Petitioner(s) VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s) (FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.158953/2018-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT and IA No.158954/2018-STAY APPLICATION and IA No.158951/2018-PERMISSION TO FILE APPEAL and IA No.158952/2018-PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS ) Date : 02-11-2018 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.K. SIKRI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK BHUSHAN HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY RASTOGI For Petitioner(s) Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. R. Jawahar Lal, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Bawa, Adv.
Mr. Shyamal Anand, Adv.
Mr. Mayank Kshirsagar, Adv.
Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR Ms. Pankhuri, Adv.
Mr. Rishi Raj Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Tushar Singh, Adv.
For Respondent(s) UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Permission to file appeal is granted.
The appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed order.
Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of accordingly.
(ASHWANI KUMAR) (RAJINDER KAUR) COURT MASTER (SH) BRANCH OFFICER
(Signed order is placed on the file)