Factual Background

In the matter of Waseem Ahmad vs State of UP the petitioner, Waseem Ahmad claimed that Ms Bharat Brass International had violated environmental standards in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, by operating numerous furnaces and engaging in other production activities that led to the discharge of poisonous substances into the drain. The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and the District Magistrate (DM), Moradabad, were members of a joint committee that the NGT requested provide a factual report on the topic during a hearing on the petition in March.

Observation of the Court 

The application was found to be an abuse of the legal system, according to a bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Sudhir Agarwal, as well as expert member Prof. A Senthil Veil. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Delhi punished a person’s filing of a complaint against a nonexistent factory with fees of Rs. 25,000.

The bench noted that a report claimed the factory did not exist at the applicant’s listed address. After the applicant did not oppose the report, the NGT concluded that the application was founded on false and misleading information. It further noted that the person the applicant claimed to be the owner of no factory in the vicinity. The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) consequently levied charges of Rs. 25,000 on the petitioner, which must be deposited with it within a month or else the UPPCB may use coercive means to retrieve the money, which is to be utilised for environmental restoration.