Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The National Green Tribunal has recently directed the District Magistrate of Ludhiana district in Punjab to ensure payment of Rs 20 lakhs each to the heirs of 11 persons who died in the recent gas leak incident. 

A bench of chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel, judicial member Sudhir Agarwal, and expert member Prof. A Senthil Veil also constituted an eight member fact-finding joint committee to be headed by the Chairman, Punjab State PCB, to probe the allegations of hydrogen sulphide leakage which allegedly led to the deaths of 11 persons. 

The matter had been taken up by the tribunal on its own motion in light of a media report of death of 11 persons, including three minors at Ludhiana on account of a gas leak in the Giaspura area of the city on April 30, 2023.

The tribunal pointed out that a report in The Hindu suggested that hydrogen sulphide could have led to the incident. The said gas could be from industrial waste dumped in the sewerage line, the tribunal stressed. 

The tribunal opined that in light of such a report, its intervention was called for under Section 15 of the NGT Act. "For which it is necessary to ascertain the cause of the incident and remedial action taken and required, including measures to prevent such incidents in future and to compensate the victims by way of adequate compensation", said the tribunal. 

Referring to the principles laid down by Supreme Court inter-alia in M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India & Ors., (1987) 1 SCC 395, MCD v. Uphaar Tragedy Victims Association, (2011) 14 SCC 481 and Sarla Verma, (2009) 6 SCC 12, the tribunal observed that the State has to pay compensation in absence of identified private operators with liberty to recover the same from persons found responsible.

"The State is under obligation to ensure compliance of environmental norms for safety of citizens. The compensation has to be paid within one month. Reference is made to several other cases where same view has been taken," court said while referring to the judgment in In re: Gas Leak at LG Polymers Chemical Plant in RR Venkatapuram Village Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh (2020).

The fact-finding committee has been ordered by the tribunal to give its report on or before June 30, 2023. 

The matter will be next heard by the tribunal on July 13, 2023. 

Case Title: In re: News item published in India Today dated 30.04.2023 titled “3 minors among 11 dead in Ludhiana gas leak, Punjab govt. announces Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia”