SANVIRA INDUSTRIES Vs. RAIN CII CARBON (VIZAG) LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these appeals, the allocation of quantities of RPC which is the abbreviation for raw pet-coke, a residue of the leftover from the refining of petroleum products and sand crude as well as other heavy oils, is in issue. Petcoke is cheaper and burns hotter than coal and is, therefore, used as a fuel, for several industrial uses. However, tests on imported pet-coke and crude coke evidence that they have extremely harmful effects in as much as their residues thrown into the atmosphere contain Sulphur as well as injurious particulate material.

(2.) The appellant in one of the appeals is M/s. Sanvira Industries (hereafter "Sanvira"). It is aggrieved by the decision of the Delhi High Court(dtd. 10/1/2023 in LPA 25/2021; LPA 70/2021; LPA 71/2021, W.P. (C) 5749/2021, and W.P. (C) 6258/2022.), which has interfered with and set aside the minutes of the meeting as well as the decision of the Central Government allocating pet-coke.

(3.) The necessary facts are that the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) determined the criteria for the allocation of imported raw pet-coke (RPC) and allocated imported RPC among various entities. On 18/7/2018, the Central Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change ("MoEF"), officers of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority for NCR and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas ("MPNG") decided in principle that import of pet-coke be ought to be restricted only to industries using it as a feedstock or as part of their manufacturing process and not as fuel. This court - seized of the public interest litigation ("PIL") in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India [W.P. No 13029/1985] (hereafter "M.C. Mehta Case") directed implementation of the minutes of the meeting of 18/7/2018 by its order dtd. 26/7/2018. The MoEF issued an office memorandum further to this court's order dtd. 10/9/2018, prescribing guidelines for regulation and monitoring of the import of RPC. Importers were obliged to obtain consent and registration issued by the concerned State Pollution Board or Pollution Control Committee ("SPB" and "PCC" respectively). Sanvira wrote on 12/9/2018 to the Environment Pollution Control Authority (hereafter "EPCA") intimating its production capacity of calciners and indicated that its capacity was 2,00,000 MT. The EPCA on 6/10/2018 filed a report before this court with regard to the import of RPC for aluminium, calciner, and steel industries in the context of restrictions imposed on the import of RPC. This was pursuant to litigation in M.C. Mehta Case. The EPCA recommended that the total import requirement of RPC was 1.4 million tonnes per annum ("MTPA") and Sanvira's capacity was taken as 2,00,000 MTPA. The EPCA report stated inter alia as follows: