Jindal Steel & Power Limited & Anr v. Ministry of Labour and Employment & Ors

RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW, J. JANUARY 24, 2017

"gsr/pp/bs"..

*IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision: 24th January, 2017 + W.P.(C) No.3398/2015 & CMs No.6071/2015 (for stay), 13006/2015 (of R-3&4 for modification / clarification of order dated 13th April, 2015), 28512/2015 (of R-4 for modification / clarification of order dated 13th April, 2015) & 3044/2016 (for impleadment) JINDAL STEEL & POWER LIMITED & ANR ..... Petitioners Through: Mr. Kapil Sibal and Mr. Parag Tripathi, Sr. Advs. with Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, Mr. Aakash Bajaj, Ms. Anusha Nagrajan and Ms. Shruti Chaudhary, Advs. Versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS ..... Respondents Through: Mr. Sanjeev Narula and Mr. Ajay Kalra, Advs. for UOI. Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Adv. with GP Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, Mr. Jaideep Singh and Mr. Amit Verma, Advs. for CIL & SECL. \AND + W.P.(C) No.886/2016 & CM No.3888/2016 (for stay) JINDAL STEEL & POWER LIMITED & ANR ..... Petitioners Through: Mr. Kapil Sibal and Mr. Parag Tripathi, Sr. Advs. with Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, Mr. Aakash Bajaj, Ms. Anusha Nagrajan and Ms. Shruti Chaudhary, Advs. Mr. Prashanto C. Sen, Mr. Udayan Verma and Mr. Shivanshu Singh, Advs. for BALCO. Versus MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT & ORS ..... Respondents Through: Mr. Sanjeev Narula and Mr. Ajay Kalra, Advs. for UOI. Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Adv. with GP Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, Mr. Jaideep Singh and Mr. Amit Verma, Advs. for CIL & SECL. Mr. Prashanto C. Sen, Mr. Udayan Verma and Mr. Shivanshu Singh, Advs. for BALCO. CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW 1. WP(C) No.3398/2015 was filed pleading: (i) That the respondent no.1 Union of India (UOI) vide letter dated 20th June, 1996 allocated coal block Gare Palma-IV/1 to the petitioner no.1 Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL) (the petitioner no.2 Mr. Kapil Dhagat is a shareholder of the petitioner no.1 JSPL). (ii) That the end use of the aforesaid coal block was linked to the Sponge Iron / Steel Plant at Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. (iii) Since coal in the said coal block was of inferior grade having high ash content of 53 to 56% which was not suitable for manufacture of sponge iron / steel, coal washeries were therefore set up to wash the coal and the washed coal was used for manufacture of sponge iron / steel. (iv) The washery middlings / coal fines / coal rejects were used in a 540 MW Captive Thermal Plant of the petitioner no.1 JSPL at Dongamahua at Raigarh and in a 134 MW capacity Captive Power Plant situated in the Steel Plant at Raigarh; these power plants have special boilers which can utilize washery middlings/ fines/ coal rejects having high ash content. (v) The Environment Clearance dated 31st July, 2008 for the Dongamahua Captive Power Plant (DCPP) at Raigarh granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) also clearly specifies that 100% fly ash shall be utilized in backfilling of the mined out areas, filling of low lying areas etc. and that such backfilling of the captive coal mines shall be done with the permission of the Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS); the said clearance further specifies that there shall be no ash pond. (vi) The Environment Clearance dated 21st May, 2012 for the subject coal mine also provides that the fly ash generated from the DCPP at Raigarh shall be dumped in the mine void in alternate layers with the overburden (OB) in ratio of 25:75. (vii) DGMS vide its letter dated 31st July, 2014 permitted petitioner no.1 JSPL to use fly ash after mixing with the OB for back filling in the mined out area. (viii) The Notification dated 14th September, 1999 issued by the MoEF makes it mandatory for the coal mine lessees located within 50 Kms of a coal based thermal power plant to use fly ash along with OB for backfilling of open cast mines; thus it is imperative and necessary that the OB produced during the mine operations in Gare Palma Coal Mine should be mixed with the fly ash generated from the DCPP at Raigarh and be used for backfilling the mined out area. (ix) Vide order dated 24th September, 2014 of the Supreme Court in W.P.(Cr