National Green Tribunal
Hotel Sentinel Through Managing ... vs The Andaman And Nicobar Administration ... on 10 March, 2022
Item Nos. 04-05 Court No.1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
EASTERN ZONE BENCH, KOLKATA
(Through Video Conferencing)
Appeal No.06/2017/EZ
With
Appeal No.09/2017/EZ
Andaman Chamber of Commerce Industry & Ors. Appellant(s)
Versus
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration & Ors. Respondent(s)
With
Hotel Sentinel & Ors. Appellant(s)
Versus
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 10.03.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE B. AMIT STHALEKAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MR. SAIBAL DASGUPTA, EXPERT MEMBER
For Appellant(s) : Ms. Anjali Nag, Advocate
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Shatadu Chakraborty, Advocate for R-2, 3, 6 & 8,
Mr. Ramendu Agarwal, Advocate for R-7, a/w
Mr. V.V. Dinesh Kumar, Member Secretary, A&N, PCC,
ORDER
1. Ms. Anjali Nag, learned Counsel is present for the Appellants (in both Appeals).
2. One affidavit dated 04.09.2018 has been filed on behalf of the Respondent Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 & 8; the same is taken on record.
3. Mr. Ramendu Agarwal, learned Counsel appearing for Respondent No.7, Andaman & Nicobar Pollution Control Committee, files hard copy of the affidavit dated 09.03.2022; the same is taken on record.
4. Mr. Agarwal shall file the e-copy/soft copy of the affidavit dated 09.03.2022 through e-filing procedure within 24 hours. 1
5. Paragraph nos. 5 to 15 of the affidavit dated 09.03.2022 are being reproduced herein which read as under:-
5. I state that in terms of the order dated January 7, 2022 passed by this learned Tribunal, the ANPCC accumulated data available with it, the Electricity Department of the A&N Administration and the Goods and Services Tax Department, which it transpired that a total of 586 units are there in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ANPCC has then conducted inspection of the said 586 units. The said units include:
Sl. No. Particulars Nos. 1. Hotels 500 i. Red-01 ii. Orange - 137 iii. Green - 362 2. Automobile Service Centres (ASCs) 24 i. Red - 00 ii. Orange - 24 iii. Green - 00 3. Other business that does not fall 62
as per CPCB revised classification of Industries such as travel agencies, offices etc. Total 586
6. I state that out of the said 586 units, 362 hotels which are classified as green, 62 units which do not fall within the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) revised classification of Industries hence leaving a total of 162 orange and red category units required to obtain CTO and install STP/ETP as applicable.
7. I state that the details of 162 units and their present status is as follows:
2
Status of STP/ETP in Units STP ETP Total Installed 109 15 124 Installation Under Process 04 02 06 Not Installed 25 03 28 Permanently Closed -- 04 04 Total 138 24 162 Action taken for 28 nos. of units for not installation of STP/ETP:
Action for not installation of Hotel (STP) ASC (ETP)
STP/ETP
Closure Notice issued (dt. 02 -
30.12.2021)
Final Notice issued (dt. 01 01
31.12.2021)
Show Dt. 03.02.2022 11 -
Cause Dt. 16.02.2022 08 01
Notice
Dt. 24.02.2022. 03 01
Issued
total 25 03
8. I state that the updated status report, with regard, the action taken said 162 units, which would indicate the steps taken, is set out below for ease of reference.3 4
* Out of the 14 units of whom Closure Notices were issued, the hotel M/s Shalini Junglighat has demolished & reduced the number of rooms to 18 nos. Hence the hotel has been re- classified from Orange to Green.
** 162 units include all 103 units listed in Appeal No. 06 & 09/EZ (List of 103 Units) except 01 unit that has been re- classified from Orange to Green.
A copy of the sample closure notice dated 30.12.2021, Final Notice dated 31.12.2021, Show cause notices dated 03.02.2022, 16.02.2022 and 24.02.2022 are annexed hereto and marked as 'B'.
9. It will be evident from the aforesaid that as of date a total 110 (138-28) hotels and 14 (24-6-4) ASC are in violation of thejudgment order dated February 22, 2017 passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the matter of W.P. (C) No. 375 of 2012 (Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anr. Vs. Union of India and Ors.).
10. Out of 110 non-compliant hotels, 81 have installed STP, of which 14 have even applied for CTO and as such are non- polluting in that regard, 4 are in the process of installation of STP. Accordingly, as of date 25 (110-81-4) Hotels have not installed STP. Regardless of the aforesaid, the ANPCC has taken action against the said 110 Hotels, which will be evident from the chart produced at para 8 above.
11. Likewise, out of 14 non-compliant ASCs, 9 have installed ETP, of which 1 have even applied for CTO and as such are non-polluting in that regard, 2 are in the process of installation of ETP. Accordingly, as of date 3 ASCs have not installed ETP. Regardless of the aforesaid, the ANPCC has 5 taken action against the said 14 ASCs, which will be evident from the chart produced at para 11 above.
12. Out of 103 units (Hotels + ASC) listed in Appeal, there are 50 units whose consent to operate has been held up due to Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) issues. On verification with each unit, it was informed that 10 units have applied to Forest Department out of which 01 has obtained CRZ, the application of 09 units are pending with Forest Department, out of which 06 are pending for Post Facto Clearance. 19 units have applied to Revenue Department, out of which 13 has obtained CRZ, 17 units have informed that they have not applied for CRZ and 04 units have not provided any information. The details of the said units are annexed herewith and marked as C. Summary status of Coastal Regulation Zone clearance document of the 50 units:
Previous Present
Status status
Applied to Forest 05 06
Department (Post
Facto)
Applied to Forest 03 (1) issued 04 (01 issued)
Department
(Normal)
Applied to Tehsildar 03 (03 issued) 19 (13 issued)
Units have informed 17 17
that they have not
applied for CRZ
Clearance
Units have informed 15 -
that they have
applied for CRZ but
does not possess
any valid document
6
Units not provided 07 04
any information
Total 50 50
13. I state that in respect of the said 50 units, the ANPCC has written letters to the concerned authorities which issue CRZ clearance. Copy of the said letters are annexed herewith and marked as D.
14. In addition to the aforesaid, ANPCC conducted a hearing on February 24, 2022 to guide the applicants for facilitating the application for post facto and other CRZ Clearances pending with Forest Department. A co of the minutes of the hearing held is annexed herewith and marked as E.
15. I state that immediately after the last hearing held on 07- 01-2022, the ANPCC has taken the following action within a period of 2 months. The ANPCC officials inspected 586 units even during COVID times in the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further the Member Secretary ANPCC despite being engaged as Returning Officer of Panchayat Elections for last 1 month, the following action has been taken by the ANPCC which his summarized below:-
I. 586 units were inspected by ANPCC in all over ANI.
Inspection Category of units found
carried in all
over ANI Green Orange Red List of units
not falling
undue the
classification
of CPCB
586 362 161 1 62
7
II. Out of 162 (Orange and Red) Units:
CTO issued = 34
CTO applied = 52
STP installed = 109
ETP installed = 15
III. Conducted hearing on 24-02-2022 to guide the applicants for facilitating the application for post facto and other CRZ Clearances pending with Forest Department."
6. However, from the affidavit of Respondent No.7 dated 09.03.2022, we find that against the defaulting Hotel/ASC units, the Environmental Compensation has not yet been computed. The Respondent No.7, Andaman & Nicobar Pollution Control Committee, is directed to compute the Environmental Compensation for the defaulting Hotel/ASC units and file an affidavit to that effect regarding action taken before the next date of listing.
7. Ms. Anjali Nag, learned Counsel states that she has not received the copy of the affidavit dated 09.03.2022 filed by the Respondent No.7.
8. Mr. Ramendu Agarwal shall provide e-copy/soft copy of the affidavit dated 09.03.2022 upon Ms. Anjali Nag within 24 hours, who may file her rejoinder affidavit to the same, if any, before the next date of listing.
9. List on 04.05.2022 for hearing.
..................................... B. Amit Sthalekar, JM ................................... Saibal Dasgupta, EM March 10, 2022 Appeal No.06/2017/EZ With Appeal No.09/2017/EZ AK 8