Mumbai: The Supreme Court (SC) has stayed a recent order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) penalising MAHAGENCO for polluting activities around the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (CSTPS). In response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Chandrapur industrialist Madhusudhan Roongta, the NGT on January 19 this year had directed CSTPS to pay a fine of ₹5 crore toward environmental compensation and formulate a plan to remedy the local ecology.
While the interim fine of ₹5 crore has been paid by CSTPS to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the NGT in its order had also imposed a recurring fine of ₹1 crore every month, for the next three months, in case the plant fails to upgrade its pollution control system within that time.
The remedial measures are to be overseen by a court-appointed joint committee, comprising representatives from the state and central pollution control boards. However, MAHAGENCO last month approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the added penalty since the union environment ministry’s deadline for compliance with emissions standards.
