Delhi High Court: In a petition filed by the petitioner (Nevco Engineers Private Limited), seeking quashing of a letter issued by Central Pollution Control Board (‘CPCB’) (respondent) insofar as it seeks to ban the petitioner’s technology i.e., Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS), Prathiba M Singh, J., directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) to review the Guidelines for the Measurement of Ambient Air Pollutants, 2012 and consider the Review Report submitted by the IIT Kanpur and take a decision in respect of approval of DOAS technology for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as also for monitoring of Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (‘CEMS’).
The grievance of the Petitioner in this case is that the adding of the compliance of standard National Ambient Air Quality Standards, 2009 (‘NAAQS’) has resulted in a situation where the Petitioner’s technology is not being accepted.
The Review Report on the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) Technology for Measurement of Gaseous Air Pollutants in Ambient Air submitted by IIT Kanpur stated that IIT, Kanpur has recommended DOAS technologies for regulatory measurements for ambient air quality under NAAQS.
Thu, the Court directed that MoEF to review the Guidelines for the Measurement of Ambient Air Pollutants, 2012 and consider the Review Report submitted by the IIT Kanpur and take a decision in respect of approval of DOAS technology for NAAQS, as also for monitoring of Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (‘CEMS’). In the meantime, wherever permissible, the Petitioner’s DOAS technology can be implemented in terms of the Review Report submitted by IIT, Kanpur.
[Nevco Engineers Private Limited v Central Pollution Control Board, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 1903, decided on 29-03-2023]
Judgment By: Justice Prathiba M Singh
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr Ramesh Singh, Senior Advocate with Ms Kritika Gupta, Advocate with Mr Adish Kapur, Director Advocates for the Petitioner;
Mr. Balendu Shekhar Advocate with Mr. Sriansh Prakash, Mr. Rajkumar Maurya and Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, Advocates with Mr. Kamal Bandhu law officer for R-1 (M: 9711152668). Mr Rajesh Kumar Gogna, Advocate with Mr Vinod Tiwari GP.