DR. I.S.TOMAR Vs. INVERTIS UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The issue involved in these appeals is very limited. Whether the appellants can be subjected to a penalty by the National Green Tribunal (for short 'the NGT') in exercise of powers under Sec. 26 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (for short 'the NGT Act') on account of their failure to comply with the orders passed by it. The appellants are Dr. I.S. Tomar, the then Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly (in Civil Appeal Nos. 4599- 4601 of 2014) the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly and its Commissioner (in Civil Appeal Nos. 5631-5633 of 2024).

(2.) These appeals arise from the judgment dtd. 24/10/2013, of the NGT, wherein the NGT, inter alia, found that the Mayor and the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly, had violated the orders dtd. 28/5/2013 and 18/7/2013. Accordingly, the NGT punished the Mayor and Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly, with civil imprisonment till rising of the Court and a payment of a fine of Rs.5.00 lakhs each. The NGT also imposed a fine of Rs.1.00 lakh per day on the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly, for causing degradation to the environment and injury to public health for the period from 28/5/2013 to 27/7/2013. Paragraph No. 45 of the impugned Judgment reads thus:

(3.) Rayons-Enlighting Humanity, Invertis University, and a group of residents of Village Razau Paraspur, Bareilly, had filed separate Original Applications before the NGT, challenging the establishment and operation of a municipal solid waste management plant, a project of the Municipal Corporation, Bareilly, located at Village Razau Paraspur, Bareilly. The applicants before the NGT contended that the plant was set up in violation of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (for short 'MoEFCC') and prayed for quashing of the circular dtd. 15/1/2008 of the MoEFCC which permitted the establishment and operation of the plant.