SC stays NGT order imposing penalty of Rs 15 cr on Coca-Cola bottling unit

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that had imposed a penalty of Rs 15 crore on two Indian bottling units of US beverage major Coca Cola for causing environmental damages.

The interim relief to the Coca Cola’s Indian bottler, Moon Beverages, has come after it app-roached the apex court seeking urgent hearing to decide whether the concept of a deemed extension of a no-objection certificate (NOC) could be said to be in contrast to the environmental jurisprudence under Indian laws. A bottler unit of PepsiCo also challenged the NGT order on similar grounds. “There shall be stay of operation of the impugned judgment passed by the National Green Tribunal (principal bench),” the apex court bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, B R Gavai and A S Bopanna said.

The next hearing is scheduled on July 11.

On February 25, the NGT had pulled up three bottling facilities for violation of environmental laws and slapped penalties of Rs 1.85 crore and Rs 13.24 crore respectively on two units of Moon Beverages at Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. It had also imposed a penalty of Rs 9.71 crore on Varun Beverages Ltd, a bottling unit of PepsiCo, at Greater Noida.

The tribunal order followed a complaint by a resident of Ghaziabad against the bottling units saying that they had not obtained NOC from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) for extraction of groundwater even though they are situated in the “over-exploited” areas.

The tribunal had asked for an action report from a joint committee of Central Pollution Control Board, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, CGWA and district magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar within two months. The committee submitted that the NOCs of the three units had expired and were not renewed by the bottling units.

The green panel had said the committee shall prepare a restoration plan within two months, execute the same in the next six months, and submit a compliance report to it.

Citing the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s guidelines, the tribunal had observed that regulating and controlling groundwater extraction in the country is only a new cover provided to the old scheme with minor variations, alterations and modifications. The NGT had even said that the ministry concerned and the CGWA had acted in haste and published Guidelines 2020 that included most of the infirmities, irregularities and failures, pointed out on the part of CGWA in earlier guidelines.