February 9, 2022 [TimesNow] – The construction of the oil storage facility was given post facto clearance in 2019 by amending the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011 as the work on the project had already started without the CRZ clearance. After discovering the lapse, the NGT said that the construction cannot be permitted even post facto clearance.

The Supreme Court has ordered to raze an edible oil storage and transit terminal operated by KTV Oil Mills and KTV Health Foods, joint ventures of Adani Wilmar Limited and KTV Group. The oil storage facility was located in Chennai’s Tondiarpet coast and has been ordered to demolish for violating coastal zone regulations.

Giving a go ahead to a 2020 decision of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the bench of Justices KM Joseph, BV Nagarathna and JB Pardiwala on Wednesday gave six months’ time to the concerned authorities to demolish the five storage tanks with a capacity of 12,825 kilolitres.

Construction without Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance

The construction of the oil storage facility was given post facto clearance in 2019 by amending the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011 as the work on the project had already started without the CRZ clearance.

The mentioned CRZ notification allows such facilities to store non-hazardous cargo, such as edible oil, but only within a notified port area.

However, the KTV storage and transit facility was developed in a coastal regulation zone — 4 km from the Chennai port.
After discovering the lapse, the NGT said that the construction cannot be permitted even post facto clearance.

In September 2020, the NGT ordered to raze the tanks and the pipeline constructed for transferring edible oil from the Chennai Port. It also slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the facility.

The NGT, in its report, said, “The authorities were not justified in considering the application under the amended Notification, 2018 and granting ex-post facto clearance to an activity which is not permissible and… the same is unsustainable in law and hence, the ex-post facto clearance granted… is liable to be set aside.”

The Adani Wilmar and KTV Group challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
However, the Supreme Court upheld the NGT’s order in its latest judgement and ordered to demolish the oil storage and transit facility.

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