New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal pulled up the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for its report on environmental compensation from polluting units in Delhi-NCR, in an order passed on Monday.
Flagging persistent delays in recovering fines and penalties, the NGT asked the DPCC to file a fresh report in four weeks with clear details of the compensation recovered.
According to the order passed by the principal bench of the NGT, the DPCC filed a status report on 18 September, which stated that seven units in Bawana Industrial Area and Khayala were operating without the mandatory Consent to Establish and without pollution control devices.
However, the DPCC’s report showed certain inconsistencies when describing these units and the compensation levied on them.
While one unit had an ongoing investigation by the Anti-Corruption Branch and was still operating, another had environmental compensation of Rs 2 crore pending from 2019. Similarly, other units had arrears of more than Rs 47 lakh still pending, and the status report by the DPCC showed that reminder letters were sent only a few days before the NGT hearing.
“The above disclosure is cryptic. It does not contain the full details such as the date of closure order, if any, the date of passing the order imposing the environmental damage compensation and thereafter the dates on which the notices were issued,” said the NGT order.
4 weeks to submit fresh report
The DPCC is tasked with inspecting polluting factories and other units in Delhi-NCR and levying appropriate penalties, fines, or closure notices. According to the status report submitted to the NGT, however, there is no linear or chronological order in which the penalties have been levied or collected, and many units that are polluting continue to function without oversight.
Out of the seven units surveyed, only one has submitted the Environment Damage Compensation (EDC) amount to the DPCC; the others are in varying stages of non-compliance.
Moreover, as the NGT noted, even though some cases are seven years old, the DPCC has only sent reminder letters to the authorities in the area in September 2026, ahead of the hearing. Taking all these points into account, the NGT’s principal bench, led by Justice Prakash Srivastava, said that the DPCC has four weeks to submit a fresh report with correct details of the compensation process, timelines, and current status of the polluting units.
The case will next be heard in December.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)
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