Reported By: Amruta Pawar

The Supreme Court in the matter of Ravinder Chanana & ors v/s State of Delhi, Delhi secretariat chief secretary through its order refused to put a stay in the extension plan of waste to energy from 23 MV to 40 MV by Jindal ITF Infrastructure Ltd.

The bench was hearing an interlocutory application that challenged the decision of the national green tribunal in 2017 which had allowed the project to continue.  

The plant was constructed in an open dump in Okhla as a private-public venture between the Jindal group & government of Delhi in 2012 however after the local residents objected to it in Delhi high court the case was transferred to the national green tribunal. 

 The Uttar Pradesh government also objected to the project as it was built within a ten-kilometre eco-sensitive zone around the Okhla bird sanctuary without first getting the approval of the National Board for Wildlife. 

In 2017 the National green tribunal gave a verdict in favour of the Jindal group’s project subject to payment of environmental compensation of 25 lakhs. 

In January 2023 an expert appraisal committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & climate change granted permission for the expansion project. 

The supreme court rejected the interlocutory application at the present stage after the advocate on behalf of the project developer said that it would take about 18 Months for the project to be expanded to the enhanced capacity.

However, the bench clarified that any steps taken towards implementing the permission of enhancement would be subject to the final result of the appeal & won’t create any equities.