The Supreme Court has recently stayed a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order imposing a Rs 100 crore penalty on Andhra Pradesh for obtaining environmental clearance for the Avulapalli reservoir project in violation of environmental norms.
A bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice M M Sundresh stated that this would be subject to deposit of Rs 25 crore by the state government with the authorities within a period of eight weeks.
”Issue notice, returnable in the month of October 2023. In the meanwhile, there will be stay of the direction given in the impugned judgment with regard to penalty/compensation, subject to the appellants depositing an amount of Rs.25 crore with the authorities within a period of eight weeks,” the bench stated.
The Apex Court was hearing a petition filed by the Andhra Pradesh government challenging an NGT order that revoked environmental clearance granted to the state’s Avulapalli reservoir.
On May 11, the NGT reserved the EC granted by the state’s Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for the construction of the Avulapalli balancing reservoir.
The order was passed by the green panel in response to a petition filed by farmers challenging SEIAA’s environmental clearance.
The NGT also imposed a Rs 100 crore penalty on Andhra Pradesh, which must be paid to the Krishna River Management Board within three months.
”It is extremely disturbing that a Government Department can go to this extent to implement an Irrigation Project by resorting to falsehood, misrepresentation, and cheating the SEIAA,” the NGT order stated.
It further added, ”If a Government Department can stoop to the levels they have as in the instant case, nothing can prevent an agency with commercial gains to split the project into different phases to avoid EC or change the category.”
