Reconsider consent fee, says National Green Tribunal

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to reconsider its fee structure for granting consent to operate industrial plants, including hotels and restaurants. 

A bench, headed by NGT chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar, said according to Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the fee has to be determined by the state government. 

It directed the DPCC to get the fee structure approved from a competent authority in the government before notifying them and the date from which such fee would be applicable.

“We dispose of this application with a direction to the DPCC to reconsider the entire fee structure and its approval from a competent authority before notifying such rates and the date from which it will be applicable,” the NGT said. 

The direction came as the National Green Tribunal disposed of a plea filed by Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association challenging the DPCC’s powers to fix and charge consent fee without any notification. 

The petitioner, an association of guest house owners’, said that guest houses and hotels were separate entities and and opposed the committee’s demand for a consent fee for the past 15 years and said that the fee was raised by 100 times.