The 2024 Penalty Regime Under the Environment Act

Section 15B, Government Departments. Where a Department of the Central or a State Government contravenes the Act, the Head of the Department is liable to a penalty equal to one month of his basic salary, unless he proves that the contravention was committed without his knowledge or instructions or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent it; and an officer whose neglect caused it is liable to a penalty of one month of his basic salary, subject to the same due diligence defence.

Section 15C, adjudicating officer. The Central Government appoints an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India or a Secretary to the State Government to hold an inquiry and impose the penalty, after giving the person a reasonable opportunity of being heard, having regard to the factors listed in section 15C(4).

Section 15D, appeal, lies against an order of the adjudicating officer to the National Green Tribunal, within sixty days of receiving the order, and is not entertained unless the appellant deposits ten per cent of the penalty.

Section 15E. The penalty amount is credited to the Environmental Protection Fund.

Section 15F. Failure to pay a penalty or an additional penalty within ninety days is an offence, punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to twice the amount of the penalty, or with both, the persons in charge of a company being liable with it. This is the point at which imprisonment survives: not for polluting, but for not paying.

Section 16, the Environmental Protection Fund, with section 16A for its accounts and audit and section 16B for the annual report.

Section 17 is gone. The old section 17 deemed the Head of a Department guilty of an offence committed by the Department. The 2023 amendment substituted new sections 15 to 15F for the old sections 15 to 17, so a Department's contravention is now met by the money penalty in section 15B, not by prosecution. India Code's consolidated text still prints the old section 17, and a student should not be misled by it.

Section 19, cognizance. No court shall take cognizance of an offence under the Act except on a complaint made by the Central Government or an authority or officer authorised by it, by an adjudicating officer or an officer he authorises (clause (aa), inserted in 2023), or by any person who has given notice of not less than sixty days, in the prescribed manner, of the alleged offence and of his intention to make a complaint, to the Central Government or the authority.

Section 20 provides for information, reports and returns; section 21 makes members, officers and employees of an authority under section 3 public servants; section 22 bars the jurisdiction of a civil court in respect of anything done under the Act; section 23 is the power to delegate; section 24, as substituted in 2023, gives the Act and the rules and orders made under it effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in any other law; section 25 is the rule-making power; and section 26 requires rules to be laid before Parliament.

Broken down

Section 15 is residual. It applies only where "no penalty is provided", so sections 14A and 14B are looked at first for a contravention of sections 7 to 11.

The band is a floor and a ceiling. Not less than ten thousand, not more than fifteen lakh, and per contravention, with a daily addition while it continues. A long continuing contravention can therefore exceed the ceiling many times over, and saying so answers the objection that fifteen lakh is small.

Section 15C moves the decision from a magistrate to an officer. The safeguards are a hearing and an appeal under section 15D.

Section 15B replaces section 17. A Head of Department is no longer deemed guilty of an offence; he pays a penalty of a month's basic salary unless he shows that the contravention was without his knowledge or instructions or that he exercised due diligence.

And section 19 keeps the citizen's complaint alive, on sixty days' notice. That is the provision on which most environmental prosecutions in India have actually been launched.

Worked example

A packaged water plant in a notified block draws twice the permitted quantity for eight months, ignoring two directions from the Central Ground Water Authority.

Step one, what is contravened? A direction issued under section 5, which is within section 15(1) because no other penalty is provided for disobeying a direction.

Step two, who imposes the penalty? An adjudicating officer under section 15C, after a hearing.

Step three, how much? Not less than ten thousand and up to fifteen lakh rupees for the contravention. If the plant is a company, section 15A applies, with a floor of one lakh.

Step four, and the continuation? Ten thousand rupees a day under section 15(2), or one lakh a day for a company under section 15A(2). Over eight months that is the dominant figure.

Step five, where does the money go? To the Environmental Protection Fund under section 15E.

Step six, and if the penalty is not paid? Section 15F makes that an offence, and imprisonment becomes available.

Step seven, is imprisonment gone for the underlying conduct? For most contraventions, yes. The direction itself can still be enforced by closure and by cutting off electricity under the Explanation to section 5, which is often more effective than either.

Distinctions

What it does NOT mean

It does not mean environmental breaches are no longer serious. The daily penalty and the closure power under section 5 are, in practice, heavier than a prosecution that never concluded.

It does not mean the criminal law is gone. Section 15F carries imprisonment of up to three years for failing to pay, and section 19 still governs how a court takes cognizance of that offence.

And it does not mean a private person has lost the right to complain. Section 19 keeps it, on sixty days' notice.

Quick revision

Section 15: residual penalty, ten thousand to fifteen lakh rupees, plus ten thousand a day while it continues.

Section 15A: a company, one lakh to fifteen lakh, plus one lakh a day. Section 15B: a Government Department.

Section 15C: adjudicating officer, after a hearing. Section 15D: appeal. Section 15E: to the Environmental Protection Fund. Section 15F: failure to pay is an offence.

Section 15B, not section 17: the Head of a Department pays one month's basic salary, with the defences of no knowledge or instructions and due diligence; the old section 17 was replaced in 2023.

Section 19: complaint by the Government or its authority, or by any person on sixty days' notice.

Section 24, substituted in 2023: the Act, its rules and orders have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in any other law.

Test yourself

1. What is the penalty band under section 15, and what is added for continuing contravention? Not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees per contravention, with an additional ten thousand rupees for every day during which the contravention continues.

2. Who now decides an environmental penalty, and what is the safeguard? An adjudicating officer appointed under section 15C, after giving the person a reasonable opportunity of being heard, with an appeal under section 15D.

3. Where does imprisonment survive under the Act? Under section 15F, for failure to pay a penalty or additional penalty within ninety days, up to three years. The old section 17, which made a Department's Head deemed guilty of an offence, was replaced in 2023 by the money penalty in section 15B.

4. On what notice may a private citizen prosecute? Sixty days' notice in the prescribed manner, to the Central Government or the authorised authority, of the alleged offence and of the intention to make a complaint, under section 19.