M/s Indian Oil Corporation Limited vs. V.B.R. Menon & Others
Background
A Chennai resident, V.B.R. Menon, filed a case before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Chennai, seeking directions to oil marketing companies (including Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Nayara Energy and Shell) to install Vapour Recovery Systems (VRS) at petrol pumps to curb harmful vapour emissions. The NGT not only ordered VRS installation on a timeline but also directed pollution control boards to make it mandatory for all new and existing petrol pumps to separately obtain a "Consent to Establish" and "Consent to Operate" under environmental laws. The oil companies did not challenge the VRS installation requirement itself, but appealed the additional mandatory-consent directions, arguing the NGT had effectively legislated new approval requirements beyond its judicial powers, especially since fuel retail outlets are officially classified as a low-pollution "green category" industry normally exempt from such consent requirements.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the NGT did have the legal power to direct the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to use its statutory authority to protect the environment, so the directions were not beyond its jurisdiction as such. However, the Court found the specific mandate (requiring every retail outlet, existing or new, to separately obtain Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate) was unreasonable and impractical in this instance, because petrol pumps had already been classified as a "green category" business exempt from such consent requirements under the CPCB's own guidelines, and imposing this fresh, cumbersome layer of approval was not necessary once existing CPCB guidelines were properly enforced. The Court left the core VRS installation directions untouched but set aside the mandatory-consent directions, instead directing CPCB to ensure strict compliance with its existing guidelines and to take action against any outlet found violating them.
Lesson Learnt
A tribunal's power to direct regulators to enforce environmental safeguards does not automatically justify imposing an entirely new layer of bureaucratic approval on an industry. Courts will step in to remove additional regulatory burdens that are impractical or unnecessary once adequate safeguards already exist and can simply be enforced properly.