M/S Mylan Laboratories Limited vs The State Of Telangana And 3 Others
2021 Latest Caselaw 4272 Tel

THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA
                         AND
     THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.RAJASHEKER REDDY

                   WRIT PETITION No.1856 OF 2021

ORDER:    (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma)


       The petitioner before this Court has filed the present

writ   petition       being       aggrieved         by     the        Order    dated

05.01.2021 issued by the Telangana State Pollution

Control     Board         directing       payment          of     environmental

compensation to the tune of Rs.18,25,000/- (Rupees

eighteen lakh and twenty five thousand only). The

petitioner is also aggrieved by the rejection of its

representation preferred in the matter.


       The petitioner as stated in the writ petition is a

company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, is

engaged      in     the     business          of    manufacturing              Active

Pharmaceutical            Ingredients         (API)      and          is   a   global

pharmaceutical company. The petitioner further stated

that one K.Sravan Kumar has written a letter to the

Principal Bench, National Green Tribunal (NGT), New

Delhi alleging pollution by several pharma companies in

the    TSIIC       Special        Economic           Zone,        Jadcherla        of

Mahboobnagar District and the letter of Sravan Kumar

was treated as an Application by the National Green

Tribunal. It was registered as O.A.No.189 of 2019. The
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petitioner further stated that on account of Order dated

20.09.2019,        the    National       Green   Tribunal,      Principal

Bench, New Delhi has directed appointment of a Joint

Inspection Committee comprising members of Central

Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board

to inspect the Special Economic Zone and to submit a

Report. The Committee has inspected the Industry on

12.12.2019 and thereafter, a Report was submitted to the

National Green Tribunal on 20.01.2020. The National

Green     Tribunal,       Principal       Bench,      New    Delhi,      on

24.01.2020, has passed the Order in O.A.No.189 of 2019

and has directed the Telangana State Pollution Control

Board     to      take    further     action     in     terms     of     the

recommendations of the Joint Inspection Committee in

respect      of   those    units      which      were    violating       the

environmental laws. The petitioner further stated that the

Telangana State Pollution Control Board has, thereafter,

mechanically        passed     the        impugned       order,        dated

05.01.2021 directing the petitioner to pay environmental

compensation of Rs.18,25,000/- (Rupees eighteen lakh

and twenty five thousand only) under the 'Polluter Pays'

principle.


     The learned counsel for the petitioner has argued

before this Court that the present writ petition is
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maintainable before the High Court in the light of the

Judgment delivered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the

case of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board v. Sterlite

Industries (I) Limited1.



          This Court has carefully gone through the aforesaid

Judgment. However, the fact remains that the impugned

order has been passed pursuant to the Order passed by

the National Green Tribunal and the petitioner company is

certainly free to approach the National Green Tribunal.

This Court in W.P.No.6105 of 2021, in almost similar

circumstances, has granted liberty to the petitioner

therein to approach the National Green Tribunal. The

Order, dated 12.11.2021 passed by this Court in the

aforesaid writ petition, reads as under:-

                 "The    petitioner before this court, a company
          registered under the Companies Act, 2013, has filed the
          present writ petition being aggrieved by the show cause
          notice dated 28.09.2020 as well as the order dated
          01.02.2021 issued by the Telangana State Pollution
          Control Board.
                 The facts of the case reveal that the National
          Green Tribunal, Southern Zone Bench, Chennai, vide
          judgment dated 24.10.2017 in Application No.90 of
          2013 and batch, issued directions for payment of
          corpus fund of 1% of the annual turnover for expansion
          of industries and 0.5% of the annual turnover by the
          industries for restoration of the entire affected area and
          creation of Corpus Fund in the name of "Patancheru
1
    2019 SCC OnLine SC 221
                                      4




and    Bollaram        Environment         Relief    Fund".          The
petitioner-company was one of the respondents before

the National Green Tribunal and after hearing the petitioner-company, the judgment was delivered by the Tribunal. In compliance of the judgment delivered by the National Green Tribunal, the petitioner-company made contributions in the year 2018-19 by paying a sum of Rs.4,22,00,000/-. The undisputed facts of the case also reveal that the petitioner-company is supplying drinking water to various villages keeping in view the various orders passed by this High Court from time to time.

Ms. Meenakshi Arora, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner-company, has vehemently argued before this court that the unit of the petitioner- company is not situated in Patancheru and Bollaram Industrial Areas and therefore, the judgment of the National Green Tribunal does not cover the unit of the petitioner-company.

A similar controversy arose in respect of M/s. Chromo Laboratories India Limited and M/s. Suven Pharmaceuticals Limited, having their units at Sangareddy District, Telangana. M/s. Chromo Laboratories India Limited and M/s. Suven Pharmaceuticals Limited were also issued show cause notices and orders were passed on 01.02.2021 directing them to contribute towards Corpus Fund and the companies, stating that they are having units in Sangareddy District and the judgment is not applicable to them, came up before this court by filing writ petitions i.e., W.P.Nos.4118 and 4143 of 2021. A Division Bench of this court has passed an order dated 26.03.2021 in W.P.Nos.4118 and 4143 of 2021, which is reproduced as under:-

"1. The present petitions have been filed by the petitioners praying inter alia for declaring the action of the respondent No.2/Telangana State Pollution Control

Board in demanding contribution to the corpus fund created by it, in terms of the orders dated 24.10.2017 passed by the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, Chennai in a batch of matters, as illegal and arbitrary.

2. At the outset, we have requested learned counsel for the petitioners to address this court on the maintainability of the present petitions when, even as per the impugned order dated 01.02.2021 passed by the respondent No.2/Telangana State Pollution Control Board, payment in the corpus fund is being called upon to be made by the concerned industries in terms of the order of the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, Chennai. In our opinion, if the petitioners are aggrieved by the aforesaid action of the respondent No.2/ Telangana State Pollution Control Board, its remedy lies before the National Green Tribunal. Instead, the petitioners are calling upon this court to interpret the order of the National Green Tribunal one way or the other, which is not permissible.

3. We decline to entertain the present petitions. The same are accordingly closed along with the pending applications, if any. It is for the petitioners to approach the National Green Tribunal for clarification of its order dated 24.10.2017 and/or to seek appropriate orders to the effect that they are not under any obligation to contribute to the corpus fund as directed to be created by the National Green Tribunal in terms of the order dated 24.10.2017."

In the considered opinion of this court, as the impugned orders have been passed by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board in respect of payment of Corpus Fund in terms of the order of the National Green Tribunal and in case the petitioners are aggrieved, the remedy lies before the National Green Tribunal and admission has been declined in identical case by this court.

We also decline to entertain the present petition. The same stands disposed of with liberty to the petitioner-company to approach the National Green Tribunal for clarification of the order dated 24.10.2017 and to seek appropriate orders to the effect that it is not under any obligation to contribute to the Corpus Fund,

as directed to be created by the National Green Tribunal in terms of the order dated 24.10.2017. The interim order dated 26.04.2021 stands vacated. Resultantly, I.A.No.2 of 2021 is allowed.

The miscellaneous applications pending in this writ petition, if any, shall stand closed."

In the light of the aforesaid order passed by this

Court, as the impugned order is arising out of the Order

passed by the National Green Tribunal in O.A.No.189 of

2019, the petitioner does have a remedy to approach the

National Green Tribunal. Therefore, admission is declined.

Resultantly, the writ petition is disposed of giving

liberty to the petitioner company to approach the National

Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi.

Miscellaneous applications pending, if any, shall

stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.

_____________________________ SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ

________________________ A.RAJASHEKER REDDY, J

13.12.2021 Pln