Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M/S Vivekanand Ashram Society vs Krishan Lal Gera on 1 May, 2023
Bench: S. Ravindra Bhat, Dipankar Datta
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6896/2015
M/S VIVEKANAND ASHRAM SOCIETY Appellant(s)
VERSUS
KRISHAN LAL GERA & ORS. Respondent(s)
O R D E R
This appeal is directed against an order of the National Green Tribunal which had, in fact, set aside the environmental clearance granted to the appellant for setting up a Super Specialty Hospital on a 5 acre plot leased by the Haryana Development Authority for 99 years in Faridabad. The plot was sought to be canceled on the ground that the original purpose i.e. running the school had not been fulfilled. That order was set aside by the revisional authority of the Haryana Development Authority itself. In the meanwhile, an application seeking environmental clearance had been made. The environmental clearance was in fact granted on 26.11.2014. That became the subject matter of challenge before the National Green Tribunal, which by its impugned judgment set it aside. This Court after entertaining the present appeal had on 30.10.2017 inter alia directed as follows: Signature Not Verified
“In our opinion, there is a useful purpose served by Digitally signed by setting up a Committee. The Committee would be in a Harshita Uppal Date: 2023.05.06 12:38:29 IST position to explain and report whether the terms of the environmental clearance granted to the appellants have Reason: been adhered to. Accordingly, in partial modification of 1 the interim order passed on 14th September, 2015, we constitute the Committee as directed by the National Green Tribunal consisting of the following persons:
1. Secretary, Environment, Government of the State of Haryana.
2. Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board.
3. Senior Scientist from MoEF.
4. Senior Scientist from C.P.C.B.
5. Prof. from Delhi Technological University (Department of Environmental Engineering)
6. Chairman, SEAC, State of Haryana that made the recommendations. 7. Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad.
8. Chief Engineer of HUDA.
The Committee will inspect the Super-Specialty Hospital as well as the Harijan Residential School and submit a comprehensive report to this Court and indicate the following:
(i) Whether the appellants have set up all anti-pollution devices and whether they are in place or not.
(ii) Whether the appellants are capable of dealing with hazardous waste, municipal solid waste, bio-medical waste and restrictions in relation to water and air pollution in their premises.
(iii) Whether the conditions that have been imposed by SEAC/SEIAA have been complied with or not.
(iv) Whether the source of water for the project has the permission of the Central Ground Water Authority.
(v) Whether the appellants are regulating and reutilizing the effluents that are released from the premises.
(vi) Whether the standards for hygiene and measures taken for environmental protection, discharge of sewage, domestic waste and other effluents are in place and whether they are functional. The report be submitted within a period of six weeks from today.
5 List the matter immediately thereafter.” The report of the Committee constituted by order dated 01.02.2018 is available; it has been placed on record. Broadly it indicates the state of affairs which existed after the National Green Tribunal’s order and various steps taken by the appellant institution to mitigate the concerns voiced in the impugned order. Having regards to these developments, the impugned order is set aside ad the matter is remitted to National Green Tribunal for 2 fresh consideration on the question as to whether the environmental clearance, initially granted, can now be used by the appellant having regard to the inspection report dated 01.02.2018. The National Green Tribunal shall consider these aspects along with relevant material and pass an appropriate order as expeditiously as possible.
The appeal is allowed in the above terms. All rights and contentions of the parties are kept open. Pending applications, if any, are disposed of.
……………………………………………………J. (S. RAVINDRA BHAT) ……………………………………………………J. (DIPANKAR DATTA) NEW DELHI 01 MAY, 2023 3 ITEM NO.36 COURT NO.13 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 No(s). 6896/2015 M/S VIVEKANAND ASHRAM SOCIETY Appellant(s) VERSUS KRISHAN LAL GERA & ORS. Respondent(s) IA No. 4/2015 - PERMISSION TO FILE ANNEXURES IA No. 3/2015 - PERMISSION TO FILE ANNEXURES IA No. 2/2015 - PERMISSION TO FILE LENGTHY LIST OF DATES IA No. 1/2015 - STAY APPLICATION) Date : 01-05-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. RAVINDRA BHAT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPANKAR DATTA For Appellant(s) M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. Jayant Bhushan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ajay Bhargava, Adv.
Mrs. Vanita Bhargava, Adv.
Mr. Shantanu Chaturvedi, Adv. Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Divyakant Lahoti, AOR Mr. Parikshit Ahuja, Adv.
Ms. Praveena Bisht, Adv.
Ms. Madhur Jhavar, Adv.
Ms. Vindhya Mehra, Adv.
Mr. Kartik Lahoti, Adv.
Ms. Garima Verma, Adv.
Mr. Alok Sangwan, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv.
Mr. Sumit Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Rajat Sangwan, Adv.
Mr. Keshav Mittal, Adv.
Ms. Amrita Verma, Adv.
Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv.
Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Adv.
Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Adv.4
Mr. Paranjay Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Dr. Arun Kumar Yadav, Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Pratham Sagar, Adv.
Mr. Abhijeet Singh, Adv.
Mr. Piyush, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The appeal is allowed in terms of the signed order. All rights and contentions of the parties are kept open.
Pending applications, if any, are disposed of.
(HARSHITA UPPAL) (MATHEW ABRAHAM) SENIOR PERSONAL ASSISTANT COURT MASTER (NSH) (Signed order is placed on the file) 5