Piramal Pharma Limited vs The State Of Telangana
2021 Latest Caselaw 3443 Tel

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

        I.A.No.2 of 2021 In/And W.P.No.6105 of 2021

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


      In the High Court of Telangana, physical hearing has

resumed.     However, at the insistence of learned counsel

appearing for the petitioner-company, the matter was heard with

the consent of the parties through video conferencing and after

hearing the learned counsel for the parties, the matter is being

disposed of at motion hearing stage itself.

      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

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.

_________________________ SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ

______________________ A.RAJASHEKER REDDY, J 12.11.2021 JSU