Approach NGT with plea on installation of FGD systems in thermal power plants: SC to petitioner
Supreme Court Channels FGD Compliance Plea to National Green Tribunal
Indiadailyupdate.com – In a move that narrows the judicial pathway for one of India's most persistent environmental enforcement gaps, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed a petitioner to take his grievance before the National Green Tribunal rather than continuing to seek relief from the apex court itself. The matter concerns the long-overdue installation and operationalisation of flue gas desulphurization units at coal-fired power stations classified as category 'A' plants — facilities situated within a ten-kilometre radius of the national capital region or of cities whose populations exceed one million.
The Bench and Its Ruling
A three-judge panel comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana examined the petition and concluded that the subject matter falls squarely within the jurisdictional domain of the NGT. The court did not dismiss the underlying concern; instead, it reframed the procedural route.
"We will request the NGT to examine and consider the interim issue on a priority basis," the bench stated.
The justices added that the specific prayers in the petition could be more effectively ventilated before the specialised environmental tribunal.
"We find that the prayers made herein can be effectively raised before the NGT," the bench observed.
The court further asked the NGT to hear the petitioner on interim relief and pass whatever orders it deemed appropriate to address the delay.
What the Petitioner Sought
The original petition asked the Supreme Court to issue directions to the Union government and other concerned authorities, compelling them to complete the installation and bring into operation FGD systems at every category 'A' thermal power plant on a strict, time-bound schedule. The petitioner also pressed for the constitution of a high-level monitoring committee tasked with tracking installation progress and verifying compliance with emission standards across the affected plants nationwide.
Counsel for the petitioner argued before the apex court that the compliance deadline has been pushed back repeatedly, year after year, and that the resulting environmental degradation is translating into tangible health hazards for residents living near these facilities. The argument centred on the cumulative toll of sulphur dioxide emissions that continue to pour into the atmosphere while plants operate without functioning scrubbers.
The Regulatory Backdrop
The obligation to fit FGD equipment at category 'A' plants traces back to a notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in December 2015. That directive set out the requirement for coal-fired stations in densely populated zones to install desulphurisation technology so that sulphur dioxide output would conform to prescribed emission limits. Nearly a decade later, the petitioner's filing indicates that the extended compliance window is scheduled to lapse in 2027 — a date that, if met, would still represent more than a decade of continued non-compliance from the original 2015 deadline.
Flue gas desulphurization systems work by capturing sulphur dioxide from the exhaust stream of coal boilers before it reaches the atmosphere. In practice, these scrubbers use a chemical absorbent — typically a limestone or lime slurry — to convert the gas into a stable by-product, thereby preventing it from contributing to acid rain, respiratory illness, and particulate formation downwind. For plants located within ten kilometres of major urban centres, the absence of such systems means that millions of residents breathe air carrying elevated levels of sulphur compounds on a daily basis.
Why Category 'A' Matters
The category 'A' designation is not arbitrary. It singles out thermal power stations whose proximity to high-density populations makes their emissions a direct public-health concern rather than a diffuse rural externality. A plant sitting within ten kilometres of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, or any other million-plus city can affect air quality for tens of millions of people within hours of operation. The regulatory logic, therefore, is that these facilities bear the highest obligation to meet emission norms, and that their non-compliance warrants the most urgent enforcement response.
Procedural Implications and What Comes Next
By routing the matter to the NGT, the Supreme Court has effectively removed the issue from its own docket while simultaneously signalling that the grievance is legitimate and warrants priority attention. The NGT, established under the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010, possesses original jurisdiction over environmental disputes and can issue interim orders, direct compliance timelines, and impose penalties for non-adherence. Its specialised mandate means it can engage with the technical and regulatory dimensions of FGD deployment more granularly than a general constitutional court.
The petitioner's counsel will now be expected to file before the NGT seeking interim directions — likely including a fixed deadline for installation completion, a reporting mechanism for progress, and consequences for continued delay. The high-power committee sought in the original petition may also feature in the NGT proceedings as a proposed oversight mechanism.
For residents of the affected urban corridors, the practical significance of this procedural shift is modest in the short term: the scrubbers are not yet installed, and the emissions continue. But the court's explicit characterisation of the issue as one requiring "priority" examination by the NGT introduces a judicial urgency marker that did not previously exist in the enforcement landscape. Whether that marker translates into accelerated installation timelines remains the question the tribunal will now have to answer.
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