Supreme Court stays NGT orders imposing fine of ₹25 crores on bottling units of Coca Cola and Pepsico

The Supreme Court recently stayed the operation of the orders passed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on two bottling businesses in Uttar Pradesh responsible for the products of Coca Cola and PepsiCo, to pay a total of about ₹25 crores as environmental compensation for illegal extraction of groundwater. [Moon Beverages Ltd. & Anr. v Sushil Bhatt & Ors.].A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and AS Bopanna stayed the orders while issuing notices in the appeal filed by the bottling businesses. "There shall be stay of operation of the impugned judgment and order dated February 25, 2022 passed by the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench," the Bench said in its order..In February 2022, the NGT coram led by Justice (retd.) Adarsh Kumar Goel had ordered the appellants, Moon Beverages (Coco Cola) and Varun Beverages (PepsiCo), to pay a total of around ₹25 crores for illegally abstracting groundwater and inflicting environmental harm.The NGT had ruled that the companies' bottling operations were in violation of environmental legislation issued by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) as they operated without the requisite no objection certificate (NOC) to withdraw groundwater.“We are of the view that PPs (Project Proponents) are responsible for illegal extraction of ground water at least after expiry of NOCs, issued to them by CGWA. They continued to extract ground water without any authority. Further, they are also liable to pay environmental compensation for causing loss to environment by failing to comply the most crucial condition of NOCs, i.e., recharge of water,” the NGT had said in its orders passed by .The NGT bench had also pulled up the CGWA for defying court orders and permitting exploitation of ground water illegally. Further, it held the Uttar Pradesh Ground Water Department (UPGWD) accountable as the body attempted to confer authority to the companies for extraction of groundwater without having the jurisdiction.The tribunal had imposed an environmental compensation of ₹1.85 crore on Moon Beverages Ltd located at Greater Noida, ₹13.24 crore on Moon Beverage Ltd’s Sahibabad unit and ₹9.71 crore on Varun Beverages Ltd’s Greater Noida unit..The appellants were represented by Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi, Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, Pinaki Misra along with other advocates and law firm Karanjawala & Co. .[Read Order]