National Green Tribunal
Shankarlal Prajapat vs State Of Madhya Pradesh on 24 March, 2026
Item No. 5 Court No. 1
BEFORE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 875/2019
(IA No. 228/2026)
Shankarlal Prajapat Applicant
Versus
State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 24.03.2026
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Tarun Cummra & Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Advs. for Applicant
Respondents: Mr. Raghav Sharma & Mr. Jaskirat Pal Singh, Advocates for MPPCB
Mr. Rajat Jariwal, Mr. Manish Barua & Mr. Dev Vijay Chand, Advocates
for R - 4 and 5
Mr. Manish Nair, Mr. T.G.N. Nair, Mr. Gaurav Singh Chouhan & Ms.
Samyukta H. Nair, Advocates for M/s Lanxess India Private Ltd.
ORDER
1. During the course of hearing, we have noticed that CPCB in its directions under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water Act issued on 19.02.2020 had noticed the presence of high level of Mercury, the said aspect is also noticed by the MPPCB in its report dated 07.08.2020. It was also indicated that as per the Joint Committee Report dated 05.02.2020 at Para 2.2 about 54000 MT hazardous mercury bearing brine sludge was stored since 1984 to 2005 in Old Secured Landfill (SLF). Further the report also indicates in Para 2.2 that since 2005 to till date the industry has dumped 28500 MT brine sludge in new landfill.
2. Hence, the MPPCB will carry out the fresh inspection of the concerned units and ascertain the above aspect and if the presence of mercury is noticed the effect thereof.
13. Learned counsel for the applicant referring to the report of the Joint Committee dated 05.02.2021 has pointed out that the report contains the directions issued by the CPCB under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water Act and the status of compliance as on 19.01.2021 as follows:
S.No. Directions Compliance status 1 The industry shall Under progress. The implementation of ZLD action ensure implementation plan is ongoing. Details are enclosed As Annexure-V. of time bound action plan for ZLD within specified time lines (January, 2021) else the bank guarantee of Rs.
15 Cr shall be forfeited.
2 The industry shall Not complied.
install online flow meter Industry has issued purchase order on 14.07.2020 in CS₂ stacks to quantify to M/s SN Enviro Solutions, Telengana. Copy of the the CS2, emission in same is enclosed as Annexure-VII.
Kg/ton of fibre and As on 19.01.2021, industry has not installed the flow
connect all the OCEMS meter and not provided the link to server of MPPCB &
installed at stacks with CPCB.
CPCB and MPPCB
servers immediately.
3 The industries shall Complied. Industry has provided the PTZ camera &
install PTZ camera and provided the connectivity to MPPCB.
online flow meter at ETP
area and provide
connectivity to MPPCB
server immediately.
4 The hazardous waste Complied.
generated from the The Hazardous waste is transported through MPPCB
industry shall be authorized GPS enabled vehicles. The WEBLINK of
transported only MPPCB authorized vehicle is
through GPS enable http://www.mppcb.mp.gov.in/Transporter%
transport vehicles. 20GPS.htm
Industry transports its HW i.e. Inorganic Sludge (Category 35.2) during FY 20-21 through M/s Swastik Road line & M/s Bhatnagar Trading Corporation to cement industries for co-processing. The Spent catalyst (Cat. 17.2), Used resin (Cat. 35.2), Hard mass (Cat. 17.1) & Residues containing oil (Cat. 5.2) are sent to TSDF, Pithampur by GPS enabled vehicle of Madhya Pradesh Waste Management project, Pithampur for disposal.
5 Industry shall keep Complied.
complete track record of The Hazardous waste is transported through MPPCB
wastes generated in the authorized GPS enabled vehicles. The WEBLINK of
unit and shall submit on MPPCB authorized vehicle is
monthly basis to Local http://www.mppcb.mp.gov.in/Transporter%
administration to 20GPS.htm
ensure vigil on illegal
discharge of industrial Industry transports its HW i.e. Inorganic Sludge
waste in river Chambal (Category 35.2) during FY 20-21 through M/s
in closed co-ordination Swastik Road line & M/s Bhatnagar Trading
with Emergency Corporation to cement industries for co-processing.
Response Centre,
2
MPPCB, Bhopal and The Spent catalyst (Cat. 17.2), Used resin (Cat. 35.2),
Sub-regional office of Hard mass (Cat. 17.1) & Residues containing oil
MPPCB, Nagda. (Cat. 5.2) are sent to TSDF, Pithampur by GPS
enabled vehicle of Madhya Pradesh Waste Management Project, Pithampur for disposal. The HW manifest submitted to respective agencies. 6 To carry out a detailed Under progress.
health study for Nagda Industry jointly with M/s Grasim Industries (CD) & region to be carried out M/s Lanxess India Limited has issued service order in light of synergistic on 10.11.2020 to National Institute for Research in health effects of Environmental Health (NIREH)-ICMR, Bhopal for the pollutants like CS2, SO2, health study for Nagda region. The detailed Service H2S etc. by engaging order is enclosed as Annexure-VIII.
any reputed government institute working in the field of Research in Environmental Health in consultation with MPPCB and Regional Director, Health services within 6 months.
4. He has submitted that the above chart discloses certain non-
compliance. Hence, the present status of compliance should also be ascertained by the MPPCB.
5. Learned counsel appearing for the MPPCB seeks four weeks' time to examine in terms of the observations made above and file a fresh report.
6. Learned counsel for the Respondent No. 6 submits that the issue of presence of mercury relates to the Respondent No. 4 or 5 and the issue of non-compliance also relates to those Respondents, hence the MPPCB will ascertain this aspect also.
7. The Joint Committee in its report has assessed the environmental compensation for non-compliance of the directions as under:
"Environmental Compensation on non-compliance of the directions The committee was in the opinion to impose the Environmental Compensation as per the Policy framed by CPCB in compliance of order 31.08.2018 in O.A. 593/2017. The Environmental Compensation:
[ EC-PI x NxRxSxLF Where, EC is Environmental Compensation in PI= Pollution Index of industrial sector N= Number of days of violation took place 3 R= A factor in Rupees (2) for EC S= Factor for scale of operation LF= Location factor The formula incorporates the anticipated severity of environmental pollution in terms of Pollution Index, duration of violation in terms of number of days, scale of operation in terms of micro & small/medium/large industry and location in terms of proximity to the large habitations.
Note:
a. The industrial sectors have been categorized into Red, Orange and Green, based on their Pollution Index in the range of 60 to 100, 41 to 59 and 21 to 40, respectively. It was suggested that the average pollution index of 80, 50 and 30 may be taken for calculating the Environmental Compensation for Red, Orange and Green categories of industries, respectively.
b. N, number of days for which violation took place is the period between the day of violation observed/due date of direction's compliance and the day of compliance verified by CPCB/SPCB/PCC.
c. R is a factor in Rupees, which may be a minimum of 100 and maximum of 500. It is suggested to consider R as 250, as the Environmental Compensation in cases of violation.
d. S could be based on small/medium/large industry categorization, which may be 0.5 for micro or small, 1.0 for medium and 1.5 for large units.
e. LF, could be based on population of the city/town and location of the industrial unit. For the industrial unit located within municipal boundary or up to 10 km distance from the municipal boundary of the city/town, following factors (LF) may be used:
Table No. 1.1: Location Factor Values S.No. Population* (million) Location Factor* (LF) 1 1 to<5 1.25 2 5 to<10 1.5 3 10 and above 2.0 *Population of the city/town as per the latest Census of India LF will be 1.0 in case unit is located >10km from municipal boundary LF is presumed as 1 for city/town having population less than one million Accordingly following was considered in this matter to calculate the EC:
PI = Pollution Index of industrial sector = 80 (Red category) N = Number of days of violation took place = 01 R = A factor in Rupees (₹) for EC = Rs. 250/-
S = Factor for scale of operation 1.5 (Large Scale) LF = Location factor = 01 (Population is less than 1 million) 4 So the daily EC calculated was = Rs. 30,000/- The assessed environmental compensation on non-compliance of the direction is as tabulated below:
Industry Non- Date of Non- No. of days EC in Rs. Remarks compliance direction compliance of non-
issued observed compliance
M/s Grasim The Date of MPPCB 19.01.2021 252 days 7,560,000 It is delayed
Industries industry direction /- due to
Limited, shall 13/05/2020 COVID-19.
Viscose install At present
Staple Fibre online flow instrument
(VSF) meter in is
division, CS2 stacks. purchased
Birlagram to quantify & received
Nagda the CS2 for
emission in installation.
Kg/ton
of fibre and
connect
all the
OCEMS
installed at
stacks
with CPCB
and
MPPCB
servers
immediately
M/s Grasim Industry Date of 19.01.2021 252 days 7,560,000 Acid was in
Industries shall MPPCB /- the consent
(Chemical include their direction as product
Division), by-product 13/05/2020 but as per
Birlagram, acids in the CPCB
Nagda hazardous guidelines
waste matter is
authorizatio pending
n.
M/s CTO Last date of Renewal date 274 days 8,220,000 Renewal of
Lanxess validity validity- of CTO: /- CTO was
India Pvt 31/12/2019 01/10/2020 issued on
Ltd (LIPL), 01.10.2020
Birlagram, Industry Date of MPPCB Yet to be 252 days 7,560,000 As per the
Nagda shall direction complied i.e. /- CPCB
include their 13/05/2020 19.01.2021 guidelines
by-product matter is
acids in pending
hazardous
waste
authorizatio
n
immediately
.
8. Learned counsel for the Private-Respondents are granted
opportunity to respond to the above calculation of the environmental compensation so that the Tribunal can finally ascertain and levy the environmental compensation.
5
9. The stand of the counsel for the Private-Respondents is that these units have not adopted ZLD, therefore, the MPPCB will ascertain the compliance of the ZLD condition by these units. MPPCB will also provide information with regard to the disposal of mercury waste by the unit and the status of mercury levels as on today in the soil and water. Further MPPCB will also provide details with regard to the health study which is being undertaken in the Nagda region as indicated at Para 5 of the Joint Committee Report.
10. Learned counsel for the Respondent No. 6 has submitted that the Respondent No. 6 is ZLD since 30.10.2012.
11. The IA No. 228/2026 has been filed by the applicant seeking waiver of cost submitting that the applicant is a poor person who is not in a position to pay the cost. Considering the explanation which has been furnished in the IA seeking waiver, we allow the prayer and dispose of IA No. 228/2026.
12. Private-Respondents will have opportunity to file response to the report of the MPPCB which is to be filed as per this direction.
13. List for further hearing on 15.07.2026.
Prakash Shrivastava, CP Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM March 24, 2026 Original Application No. 875/2019 (IA No. 228/2026) P 6