The NGT determined that the enterprises’ bottling activities were in contravention of the Central Ground Water Authority’s (CGWA) environmental legislation because they were operating without the required no objection certificate (NOC) to withdraw groundwater.
“We believe that PPs (Project Proponents) are accountable for unlawful groundwater extraction at least after their NOCs from the CGWA have expired. They continued to take water from the ground without permission. They are also obliged to pay environmental compensation for inflicting environmental damage by failing to comply with the most important provision of NOCs, namely, water recharge,” according to the ruling.
Both companies were also accused of violating their licence restrictions by failing to meet groundwater recharge standards. Moon Beverages (Coca-Cola) and Varun Beverages (PepsiCo) were therefore fined a total of Rs. 25 crores for illegally extracting groundwater and causing environmental damage.
The coram included retired Supreme Court Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel as Chairperson, judicial members Sudhir Agarwal and Brijesh Sethi, and expert members Prof A Senthil Vel and Dr Afroz Ahmad.
The NGT also slammed the government’s groundwater regulator, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), citing a number of shortcomings in its operations.
“CGWA has repeatedly acted in a callous and defiant manner, going to the length of authorising fully illegally large exploitation of ground water, that too in very stressed places, completely unconcerned about the consequences,” the NGT noted.
The Uttar Pradesh Ground Water Department (UPGWD) was also held responsible for attempting to provide corporations authority to extract groundwater without having the right to do so.
“They have also contributed to and are responsible for inflicting environmental damage by illegal groundwater abstraction, for which they may be held accountable,” the NGT stated.
The tribunal awarded Moon Beverages Ltd in Greater Noida an environmental compensation of Rs.1.85 crore, Moon Beverages Ltd in Sahibabad a compensation of Rs.13.24 crore, and Varun Beverages Ltd in Greater Noida a compensation of Rs.9.71 crore.
A joint committee comprised of the Ministries of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, and Jlak Shakti, as well as the Central Pollution Control Board, the Central GroundWater Authority, the Uttar Pradesh Ground Water Department, and District Magistrates from the affected districts, was formed to ensure that the compensation received is used for ground water recharge.
The petitioners were represented by Rohit Kumar Tuteja, an attorney. The respondents were represented by lawyers AK Prasad, Pradeep Misra, Daleep Dhyani, Balendu Shekhar, Raj Kumar, Puja Kalra, Sanjay Upadhyay, and R Jawharlal.
Case: Sushil Bhatt vs Moon Beverages Ltd. & Ors.
