The green bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court has imposed a
penalty of Rs 100 crore on Jaiprakash Associates Limited for setting up a
mega cement plant with means the court described as deceitful, besides a
captive, thermal power plant without clearance. The court has allowed
the 1.75-million-tonne cement plant to stay but ordered dismantling of
the 60MW power plant.
In a state that has pioneered green initiatives such as a ban on polythene and an environment protection code for schoolchildren, successive governments’ actions on various aspects of the Jaypee Group’s project have come under question from the green bench, comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol.
The cement plant, in Solan district, had been cleared on September 9, 2004, by the Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh. The court found that the company had declared the project cost as Rs 90 crore against an actual investment between Rs 400 crore and Rs 500 crore. The court held it was a deliberate undervaluation to circumvent an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, under which projects worth under Rs 100 crore don’t need environmental clearance
After the BJP came to power, it took note of the fact that the 325 acres on which the project stood was village common land. The new government regularised this, imposing a penalty of Rs 4.10 crore, besides charging Rs 2.50 crore for diversion of forest land. In 2010, the government ordered that responsibility be fixed on the officers who were party to these irregularities; this is yet to be done.
The Congress government had taken a policy decision not to sanction any thermal power plant. The BJP government reversed it and cleared the Jaypee group’s plant. The court said the government did not deal with objections raised earlier and received a proposal from the company within a few hours after the cabinet had decided to allow thermal plants.
The chief ministers during the two regimes have blamed each other’s government. “It was cleared by a single window authority in 2004 at a highly undervalued cost of Rs 90 crore against an actual investment of Rs 450 crore,” said present CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. “It was the Congress government that illegally transferred 325 bighas of village common land. Most of the illegalities were committed during the Congress regime.”
Previous chief minister Virbhadra Singh accused Dhumal of blatant lying. “An officer of the Pollution Control Board, who had given an NOC to the company, was suspended on my orders,” he said. “The Congress also took a policy decision not to allow any thermal power plant, but the BJP government reversed it. The same day, the Jaypee group applied for its thermal plant and was given permission.”
The company has now agreed not to go ahead with the thermal plant but hasn’t decided how to deal with the penalty. “The company is studying the judgment’s implications, both legal as well as factual, and depending upon legal advice, the future course of action would be decided,” a spokesman said.
The order
The court has ordered the power plant’s dismantling within three months time, saying it was set up without proper environmental clearances. About the cement plant, it said, “This company has behaved like a law unto itself .The only course now open to the court is to revoke the environmental clearances and direct the cement and thermal plants be dismantled as everything is based on issue of lies. We are of the considered view that the rich and powerful like JAL cannot present the court with a fait accompli and say that now since the plant has already been erected and is functioning the same should not be demolished,” the order reads.
The reason the court cited for allowing the cement plant to stay was the livelihood of thousands involved. “We have, therefore, decided to impose damages of Rs 100 crore as the cost is between Rs 400 crore and Rs 500 crore. We feel the penalty amount should be about 25 per cent of the total cost of the project.”
The amount is to be paid in four installments of Rs 25 crore till March 31, 2015, and used for improving the ecology the area and set up local infrastructure, with Rs 10 crore set aside to compensate villagers for the misutilisation of their common land.
A Special Investigating Team headed by an additional DGP (vigilance) will investigate how the plant was cleared and identify the public servants involved, and submit its report to by December 31.
The judgment was delivered on a petition filed by an NGO, Him Privesh Environment Protection Society, and also based on a letter received by the High Court Chief Justice from villagers.
CASE DIARY
Project: 1.75-million-tonne cement plant, with 60MW captive thermal power plant, in Solan, HP, by Jaiprakash Associates Limited
Cement plant: Green bench found company had undestated the project cost to circumvent rules necessitating environmental clearance; also, land from common village pool was transferred without consulting villagers
Power plant: Court found it was set up without approval; this violated the Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 2006
In a state that has pioneered green initiatives such as a ban on polythene and an environment protection code for schoolchildren, successive governments’ actions on various aspects of the Jaypee Group’s project have come under question from the green bench, comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol.
The cement plant, in Solan district, had been cleared on September 9, 2004, by the Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh. The court found that the company had declared the project cost as Rs 90 crore against an actual investment between Rs 400 crore and Rs 500 crore. The court held it was a deliberate undervaluation to circumvent an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, under which projects worth under Rs 100 crore don’t need environmental clearance
After the BJP came to power, it took note of the fact that the 325 acres on which the project stood was village common land. The new government regularised this, imposing a penalty of Rs 4.10 crore, besides charging Rs 2.50 crore for diversion of forest land. In 2010, the government ordered that responsibility be fixed on the officers who were party to these irregularities; this is yet to be done.
The Congress government had taken a policy decision not to sanction any thermal power plant. The BJP government reversed it and cleared the Jaypee group’s plant. The court said the government did not deal with objections raised earlier and received a proposal from the company within a few hours after the cabinet had decided to allow thermal plants.
The chief ministers during the two regimes have blamed each other’s government. “It was cleared by a single window authority in 2004 at a highly undervalued cost of Rs 90 crore against an actual investment of Rs 450 crore,” said present CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. “It was the Congress government that illegally transferred 325 bighas of village common land. Most of the illegalities were committed during the Congress regime.”
Previous chief minister Virbhadra Singh accused Dhumal of blatant lying. “An officer of the Pollution Control Board, who had given an NOC to the company, was suspended on my orders,” he said. “The Congress also took a policy decision not to allow any thermal power plant, but the BJP government reversed it. The same day, the Jaypee group applied for its thermal plant and was given permission.”
The company has now agreed not to go ahead with the thermal plant but hasn’t decided how to deal with the penalty. “The company is studying the judgment’s implications, both legal as well as factual, and depending upon legal advice, the future course of action would be decided,” a spokesman said.
The order
The court has ordered the power plant’s dismantling within three months time, saying it was set up without proper environmental clearances. About the cement plant, it said, “This company has behaved like a law unto itself .The only course now open to the court is to revoke the environmental clearances and direct the cement and thermal plants be dismantled as everything is based on issue of lies. We are of the considered view that the rich and powerful like JAL cannot present the court with a fait accompli and say that now since the plant has already been erected and is functioning the same should not be demolished,” the order reads.
The reason the court cited for allowing the cement plant to stay was the livelihood of thousands involved. “We have, therefore, decided to impose damages of Rs 100 crore as the cost is between Rs 400 crore and Rs 500 crore. We feel the penalty amount should be about 25 per cent of the total cost of the project.”
The amount is to be paid in four installments of Rs 25 crore till March 31, 2015, and used for improving the ecology the area and set up local infrastructure, with Rs 10 crore set aside to compensate villagers for the misutilisation of their common land.
A Special Investigating Team headed by an additional DGP (vigilance) will investigate how the plant was cleared and identify the public servants involved, and submit its report to by December 31.
The judgment was delivered on a petition filed by an NGO, Him Privesh Environment Protection Society, and also based on a letter received by the High Court Chief Justice from villagers.
CASE DIARY
Project: 1.75-million-tonne cement plant, with 60MW captive thermal power plant, in Solan, HP, by Jaiprakash Associates Limited
Cement plant: Green bench found company had undestated the project cost to circumvent rules necessitating environmental clearance; also, land from common village pool was transferred without consulting villagers
Power plant: Court found it was set up without approval; this violated the Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 2006
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