RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR.

Citation: [2005] 1 S.C.R. 115 · Decided: 05-01-2005 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: Y.K. SABHARWAL · Disposal: Disposed off

Cited by 3 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE TECHNOLOGYAND 
A 
NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY 
V. 
UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. 
JANUARY 5, 2005 
B 
[Y.K. SABHARWAL AND S.H. KAPADIA, JJ.) 
Environmental Law: 
Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989-Rule C 
J 5(2)-Environment Pollution-Import of J 33 containers of waste oil in the 
garb of Lubricating oil/Furnace oil-Lying at the Nheva Sheva Port for 4 
months-Laboratory tests confirmed the Hazardous nature of oil-Many of 
the containers exploded causing grave damage to the environment-Writ 
Petition seeking disposal option for such waste oil to prevent serious damage D 
to environment-Held, appropriate course to protect environment is destruction 
of consignment by incineration-Re-export of oil was possible within 30 days 
-..i. 
and after 4 years 'delay' same is ruled out, the only option is one time 
disposal-Authorities directed to expedite incineration-Importers liable to 
deposit cost of incineration on 'Pollutor Pays' principle-Environment 
Protection Act, J 986. 
E 
International convention: 
Basel convention-Parameters fixed by, are only guidelines-National 
law laying stricter condition to prevail. 
Law of Torts: 
Precautionary principle and Pollutor pays principle-Meaning of-
Explained-Environmental law. 
F 
The question which arose in present Writ Petition is limited to G 
environment issue i.e. whether the hazardous waste oil allegedly imported 
illegally as Lubricating oil/Furnace oil needs to be incinerated/destroyed 
in the interest of Environment and whether this matter could be 
compromised having regard to the laws of other country. 
115 
H 
116 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2005] I S C.R. 
A 
Disposing of the Writ Petition, the Court 
HELD: I. The only appropriate course to protect the environment 
is to direct the destruction of the consignments by incineration. 1138-BI 
2.1. The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, 
B lays down that presence of PCB contents in waste mineral oil would render 
such oil as hazardous waste. ]127-El 
2.2. In the instant case, most of the consignment, were found to be 
hazardous waste. The only consignment imported by Eleven Star Esscon 
was found not to be hazardous but off specification fit for re-refining. In 
C respect of one container of Oil imported by Royal lmplex though the 
samples were not sent to the llP for further analysis in respect of Organic 
halides and PCB determination, the report concluded that it would not 
be advisable to conduct those tests at that late stage as the prolonged 
storage may have deteriorated the material further and on the basis of 
D the test results available it was obvious that the material was not fit for 
re-refining. In addition to the 133 containers, another group of imports 
by various parties comprising of an additional 170 containers, which had 
been imported after the import of 133 containers, are also lodged with 
the Custodians in the same area and are more or less in the same condition. 
E 
F 
(127-F-G; 129-H; 130-AI 
3.1. Report of Commissioner of Customs refers to Rule 15(2) which 
provides re-shi"pment of waste within 30 days to the exporter from the date 
of off-loading or disposal within 30 days. The report further states that 
even though there are provisions both in International Conventions, like 
Basel Convention, and in our national laws, a holistic view needs to be 
taken in .view of the prevailing circumstances. The exporters of the cargo 
in question may not take the cargo after 4 years. The re-export of cargo 
at this point of time and under the conditions in which the cargo was lying 
has been ruled out also stating that issues like transportation charges and 
the ownership and acceptability of the cargo at the destination point may 
G be highly vexed and difficult to surmount. In this backdrop, the possibility 
of disposal locally as a one-time measure was examined. [128-C, E, F-GI 
3.2. The report of Commissioner of Customs has been considered 
by the Monitoring Committee, and it has recommended disposal of all 
consignments except one by incineration in consultation with two Pollution 
H Control Boards mentioned in its report. It has noticed that adequate 
,. 
RESEARCH FOUNDATION v. U.0.1. 
117 
__., 
facilities are not available even with registered refiners for re-refining oil A 
containing PCBs. Notice has also been taken of the fact that the Director, 
llP, Dehradun has mentioned that since all 133 containers have been lying 
at Mumbai Port 

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