Earlier on January 15, the tribunal had pulled up the UPPCB for failing to check polluting industries in Ghaziabad and had directed closure of units which are discharging harmful effluents into air and water in violation of the Board's consent order.

The interim order was passed by the NGT after going through the affidavits submitted by the UPPCB and CPCB which said some industries in the city are operating without or in violation of the consent order and the pollution levels reached a very high level. Earlier, the tribunal had directed the authorities to neither allow setting up of any new industries in Ghaziabad nor permit expansion of those units categorised as 'Red' and 'Orange' and as a source of pollution without the tribunal's approval. Industries are categorised as Red, Orange or Green on the basis of their decreasing order of severity of pollution. The CPCB, meanwhile, in its affidavit has said that the Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) scores for Ghaziabad for the year 2009 and 2011 both show a red zone situation. As per CPCB's affidavit the CEPI score of the city is 87.37 and 81.14 for the years 2009 and 2011 respectively. The CEPI range is from 0 to 100, where a figure close to 0 will show lower levels of pollution. The tribunal was hearing a petition filed by Ghaziabad resident Rajiv Narayan, who alleged that the rapid development of industries in the city has resulted in acute air and water pollution which is causing severe health problems to the residents of the city. He has alleged that the acute air and water pollution in Ghaziabad is being caused by the discharge of effluents of industries as well as due to lack of proper municipal waste disposal system.