Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24
Chapter Forty-Six
Syllabus topic 1, "Water"
Pages 192 to 196 of 885
In one line
Two sections do the work: one forbids putting polluting matter into water, and the other forbids starting anything that will discharge without the Board's permission.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 24 prohibits a person from knowingly causing or permitting any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, determined in accordance with the standards laid down by the State Board, to enter directly or indirectly into any stream or well or sewer or on land; section 25 prohibits establishing any industry, operation or process or any treatment and disposal system likely to discharge sewage or trade effluent, bringing into use a new or altered outlet, or beginning a new discharge, without the previous consent of the State Board; section 26 applies the same regime to an existing discharge; section 27 provides for refusal and withdrawal of consent; and sections 32, 33, 33A and 33B provide the emergency, judicial and administrative remedies.
The two prohibitions
Section 24(1)(a). "No person shall knowingly cause or permit any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter determined in accordance with such standards as may be laid down by the State Board to enter (whether directly or indirectly) into any stream or well or sewer or on land."
Section 24(1)(b). "No person shall knowingly cause or permit to enter into any stream any other matter which may tend, either directly or in combination with similar matters, to impede the proper flow of the water of the stream in a manner leading or likely to lead to a substantial aggravation of pollution due to other causes or of its consequences."
Section 24(2) lists what is not an offence by reason only of the act: constructing, improving or maintaining a building, bridge, weir, dam, sluice, dock, pier, drain, sewer or other permanent work which the person has a right to construct in, across or on the bank or bed of a stream; depositing material on the bank or bed for reclaiming land or for supporting, repairing or protecting the bank or bed, provided the materials are not capable of polluting the stream; putting into a stream any sand, gravel or other natural deposit which has flowed from or been deposited by the current of that stream; and causing the deposit accumulated in a well, pond or reservoir to enter a stream with the consent of the State Board.
Section 24(3) allows the State Government, after consultation with or on the recommendation of the State Board, to exempt a person from sub-section (1) by notification, on conditions.
Notice three things about section 24. The word is "knowingly", so it is not an absolute prohibition on the face of it. The prohibited matter is defined by the Board's standards, so the content is administrative. And the prohibition covers entry on land as well as into a stream or well, which is what brings a sludge dump within it.
Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24
Consent
Section 25(1). "No person shall, without the previous consent of the State Board, (a) establish or take any steps to establish any industry, operation or process, or any treatment and disposal system or any extension or addition thereto, which is likely to discharge sewage or trade effluent into a stream or well or sewer or on land; or (b) bring into use any new or altered outlet for the discharge of sewage; or (c) begin to make any new discharge of sewage." A proviso allows the Central Government, in consultation with the Central Board, to exempt categories of industrial plants.
Section 25(2) requires the application to be in the prescribed form with the prescribed particulars and fees. The Board may make such inquiry as it deems fit and may grant consent subject to conditions as to the point of discharge, the nature and composition, the temperature, volume and rate of discharge, and the construction of a system for the treatment of the effluent, or may refuse consent for reasons recorded in writing.
Two consents in practice. The Boards operate a consent to establish, which is section 25(1)(a), and a consent to operate, which is section 25(1)(b) and (c), renewed periodically. The vocabulary is administrative rather than statutory but every industrial answer uses it.
Section 26 applies the same provisions to a person who was discharging sewage or trade effluent immediately before the commencement of the Act.
Section 27 provides that the Board shall not grant consent under section 25 unless the prescribed conditions are complied with, and empowers it to review any condition and to withdraw a consent, and section 27A, inserted in 2024, allows the Central Government to issue guidelines for the grant, refusal or cancellation of consent.
Sections 28 and 29 provide for an appeal to an appellate authority and for revision by the State Government.
Section 30 allows the State Board itself to carry out the work a person has failed to do and to recover the expenses from him.
Investigation and emergency
Section 19 allows a State Government to restrict the application of the Act to a specified area; section 20 is the power to obtain information, including a survey of a stream or well; section 21 is the power to take samples, with the procedure that must be followed if the analysis is to be admissible; section 22 deals with the report of the analysis; and section 23 is the power of entry and inspection.
Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24
Section 32, emergency measures. Where it appears to the State Board that any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter is present in a stream or well or on land, or has entered it because of an accident or other unforeseen act or event, the Board may carry out operations for removing or mitigating the pollution and for issuing orders restraining the person, and may recover the expenses.
Section 33, application to a court. The Board may make an application to a court, not inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, for restraining apprehended pollution of water in a stream or well, and the court may make an order and may direct the person to remove the matter at his own cost.
Section 33A, directions. The Board may, in the exercise of its powers and performance of its functions under the Act, issue any directions in writing to any person, officer or authority, who shall be bound to comply; and the power includes the direction of closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry, operation or process and the stoppage or regulation of the supply of electricity, water or any other service.
Section 33B, appeal to the National Green Tribunal, against an order or decision of the appellate authority under section 28 or of the State Government under section 29, or a direction under section 33A.
Broken down
Section 24 is the prohibition and section 25 is the permission. A discharge that satisfies the consent is not an offence under section 24 because it is within the standards; a discharge outside the consent contravenes both.
Section 33A is the sanction that actually works. Closure and cutting off electricity are immediate and do not require a prosecution. It is the model for section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Section 33 is the preventive remedy. An application to restrain apprehended pollution allows the Board to act before the harm, which is the precautionary principle in a statutory form long before the phrase was used.
And section 30 is the restorative one. The Board does the work and recovers the cost, which is polluter pays in a statutory form.
Worked example
A distillery proposes a new unit that will discharge spent wash. It is built and commissioned while the application is pending, and the spent wash reaches a seasonal nala and then the irrigation tank below.
Step one, section 25(1)(a). Establishing or taking steps to establish an industry likely to discharge trade effluent without previous consent is itself the contravention. The breach happens at construction, not at discharge, and that is the point students miss.
Step two, section 24(1)(a). Knowingly causing polluting matter, determined by the Board's standards, to enter a stream, a well, a sewer or land.
Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24
Step three, what may the Board do at once? Issue a direction under section 33A for closure and for the electricity supply to be cut off; take emergency measures under section 32 and recover the cost; and apply under section 33 to restrain apprehended pollution of the tank.
Step four, what may the farmers below do? Complain under section 49, which the next chapter deals with, and rely on Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners Association v. Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, AIR 2010 SC 3645, in which the polluters, having polluted unabated, were held unable to escape the expenses of reversing the ecology, by removing the sludge from the river and cleaning the dam, and were made to compensate the farmers whose losses a committee had assessed.
Step five, where does an appeal go? Under section 28 to the appellate authority, and thereafter under section 33B to the National Green Tribunal.
Distinctions
| Section 24 | Section 25 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Prohibits entry of polluting matter into a stream, well, sewer or on land | Requires previous consent to establish, to bring an outlet into use, or to begin a discharge |
| When it is broken | On the entry of the matter | On establishing or taking steps to establish, before any discharge |
| Mental element | Knowingly | None; the act is enough |
| Defence | The four acts in section 24(2), and an exemption under section 24(3) | An exemption of a category of plant by the Central Government |
| Content supplied by | The State Board's standards | The conditions of the consent |
What it does NOT mean
It does not mean consent legalises pollution. Consent authorises a discharge within stated conditions; a discharge outside them is unconsented.
It does not mean section 24 requires proof of harm. It requires entry of matter determined by the Board's standards, and section 24(1)(b) is satisfied by matter likely to impede the flow so as to aggravate pollution.
And it does not mean section 24(2) is a general defence. It exempts the four listed acts "by reason only" of doing them, and the exemption for depositing material is expressly conditional on the material not being capable of polluting the stream.
Quick revision
Section 24(1)(a): no person shall knowingly cause or permit poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, determined by the State Board's standards, to enter a stream, well, sewer or land. 24(1)(b): nor matter tending to impede the flow so as to aggravate pollution. 24(2): four acts exempted, one of them conditional. 24(3): exemption by notification.
Section 25: previous consent to establish, to bring a new or altered outlet into use, or to begin a new discharge. Section 26: existing discharges. Section 27: refusal, review of conditions and withdrawal. Section 27A, 2024: central guidelines. Sections 28 and 29: appeal and revision. Section 30: the Board does the work and recovers the cost.
Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24
Sections 19 to 23: restriction to an area, information, samples and the procedure, the analyst's report, and entry.
Section 32: emergency measures and recovery. Section 33: application to restrain apprehended pollution. Section 33A: directions including closure and cutting off electricity or water. Section 33B: appeal to the National Green Tribunal.
Test yourself
1. At what moment is section 25 contravened? On establishing, or taking any steps to establish, an industry, operation, process or treatment and disposal system likely to discharge sewage or trade effluent without previous consent; the breach does not wait for a discharge.
2. What supplies the content of the prohibition in section 24(1)(a)? The standards laid down by the State Board, in accordance with which the poisonous, noxious or polluting matter is determined.
3. Which section gives the Board its most effective sanction, and what does it allow? Section 33A, which allows directions in writing binding on any person, officer or authority, including closure, prohibition or regulation of an industry, operation or process and the stoppage or regulation of the supply of electricity, water or any other service.
4. What is the preventive remedy in the Act? Section 33, an application to a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class for an order restraining apprehended pollution of water in a stream or well, with a power to direct removal at the person's own cost.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.