The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has informed the Madras High Court of its decision to extend the time limit for industries and other establishments using diesel power generator sets of capacity 125KVA and above to fix retrofit emission control devices (RECDs), aimed at reducing air pollution.
Justices T. Raja and S. Sounthar were told that the time limit shall be extended up to September 30 for establishments in non-attainment cities (those which fall short of the national ambient air quality standards), such as Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi and Thoothukudi, and up to March 31, 2023, for all other parts of the State.
The extension was decided in view of the non-availability of RECDs, a new product, in the market. The court was informed that it might take around three months for the first product to hit the market since the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had received applications for approval from six manufacturers only recently.
Those applications had been forwarded to the identified testing agencies in Pune and Manesar. Though there were two more testing agencies in Dehradun and Ahmednagar, all four centres were equipped with the facility to test RECDs only up to 800kW, the court was told.
The submissions were made during the hearing of individual writ petitions filed by Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, through senior counsels A.L. Somayaji and Abdul Saleem, challenging a notification issued by the TNPCB on October 20, 2021.
The notification had insisted upon establishments in non-attainment cities fix RECDs forthwith and had granted time till March 31, 2022, for establishments in other parts of the State. The oil majors complained to the court that the notification could not be complied with since RECDs were not available in the market.
After the case was filed, the CPCB conceded before the court that it would take two to three months for the first product to hit the market since they were at the testing stage. It also stated that it had not issued any instruction to the State pollution control boards to fix timelines for fitment of RECDs.
On its part, the TNPCB informed the court of having extended the time limits. Therefore, the judges disposed of the writ petitions filed by the oil majors after recording the submissions made by the CPCB and the TNPCB.
