July 6, 2012
Vijay Arora
Tribune India
Shimla: The HP High Court today dismissed a review petition filed by Jaypee Industries for reviewing its order of dismantling the thermal plant at the site of a cement plant in Solan district.
Dismissing the petition, a Green Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol said, “This is only an attempt to re-open the matter and there is no error apparent on the face of the record. We are clearly of the view that this court has dealt with all issues raised before it in detail and the petitioner, by means of this review petition, cannot be permitted to now raise issues which were either not raised or which have been decided by a reasoned judgment.”
After considering the pleas of the company regarding the imposition of Rs 100 crore as damages without actually assessing the cost as per the “polluter pays” principle, the Bench said, “As far as the damages of Rs 100 crore are concerned, we have considered the matter in detail and the damages have been imposed because we felt that it will not be proper to order the dismantling of the cement plant since it will affect the livelihood of a large number of innocent people. We have taken all factors into consideration while imposing these damages and there is no error apparent on the face of the record.”
On the company’s take regarding the dismantling of the thermal plant that it had not installed any plant or machinery in the partially constructed civil structure built by it to house the captive thermal power plant (CTTP), the Bench said, “At the time of hearing, it was never urged that the CTPP had not been set up. This matter has been discussed at great length in our judgment and we have come to the conclusion that the construction of the thermal plant was taken up on June 6, 2006, even before the consent to establish (CTE) was given by the State Pollution Control Board. We have held that the construction was completed despite the CTE being withdrawn.”
It said, “From the averment made in the review petition itself, it is apparent that by now the petitioner has transported as many as 87 trailers which contained the material used to set up the CTPP. Therefore, we cannot believe that the plant had not been set up. We see no reason to recall these directions.”
In its earlier judgement, the Green Bench had directed Jaypee Industries to demolish its thermal power plant and had imposed Rs 100 crore as damages for violating the law and making flase pleas before the authorities.