Funds crunch cripples ‘Polluter Pays’ enforcement
Deliberations held, but issue remains unresolved
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 17: The “Polluter Pays Principle”, mandated by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and upheld by the Supreme Court, has run into implementation hurdles in Jammu and Kashmir as Urban Local Bodies and other development agencies continue to default on Environmental Compensation payments while the private sector has largely complied.
The legal framework was set in motion following the Supreme Court’s February 22, 2017 judgment in Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti Versus Union of India, which directed that the issue of environmental pollution be monitored by the National Green Tribunal.
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Acting on this mandate, the NGT undertook intensive scrutiny of the functioning of Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs), Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), eventually uncovering widespread violations resulting in pollution of water bodies, soil and ambient air in blatant violation of Environment Laws.
To enforce accountability, the NGT invoked the “Polluter Pays Principle” and ordered the levy of Environmental Compensation to act as a deterrent and to generate funds for environmental restoration. Scientific formulas were evolved to assess compensation based on parameters such as Pollution Index, duration of violation, scale of operations and proximity to human habitations.
Pursuant to NGT directions dated February 19, 2019, the Central Pollution Control Board issued detailed guidelines for charging Environmental Compensation from polluters. In compliance, the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC) initiated action against industrial units, private and Government health institutions, Urban Local Bodies, Development Authorities and infrastructure-executing agencies.
While enforcement initially triggered resistance across categories of violators, the eventual outcome has been sharply divergent.
“Almost all private sector violators, after exhausting their legal remedies before the NGT and even the Supreme Court, have deposited the Environmental Compensation”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
“However, Urban Local Bodies, Government hospitals and other official agencies are still dragging their feet, thereby openly defying Tribunal directives”, they said, adding that most Government agencies have adopted a standard defence that they do not have a separate budgetary component to pay Environmental Compensation. This argument, however, has been categorically rejected by environmental regulators and experts.
Sources stressed that there must be a dedicated component in the annual budgets of Urban Local Bodies and other Government agencies to meet liabilities arising out of environmental violations. “Environmental damage cannot wait for file movement between departments and release of funds by the Finance Department,” they added.
These concerns, sources revealed, have been deliberated upon in numerous meetings involving Pollution Control authorities, Administrative Departments, ULB officials and other violators. “Despite repeated discussions, no tangible outcome has emerged. The issue keeps circulating between departments without resolution”, they said.
ULBs and other agencies have formally conveyed to the JKPCC that the matter has been taken up with their respective Administrative Departments, which in turn have approached the Finance Department. Payment, they maintain, will be possible only after funds are specifically allocated—an approach that regulators describe as nothing short of institutionalised delay.
The consequences of this reluctance are serious. As per NGT directions, Environmental Compensation is required to be utilised in the same district or area where the environmental damage has occurred, for establishing sewage treatment facilities, solid waste management systems and other remedial infrastructure. “Because of inordinate delay in payment by Government agencies, the initiation of corrective measures is getting pushed endlessly”, sources said.
Certain officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted the problem. “There is undeniable delay on the part of Government agencies. The matter has been taken up at the highest level,” they said.
The issue gains further gravity in the backdrop of a Supreme Court ruling delivered in August last year, which categorically affirmed that Pollution Control Boards/Committees are empowered under the Water Act and the Air Act to impose Environmental Compensation as part of their statutory mandate.
“Selective compliance, where private entities pay and Government bodies default, undermines the rule of law and weakens environmental governance. If public authorities themselves evade responsibility, the very foundation of environmental regulation collapses”, they remarked.
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