The Sanctions, and the 2024 Penalty Regime

Section 43, contravention of section 24. Whoever contravenes section 24 is liable to a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees, and to an additional ten thousand rupees for every day the contravention continues.

Section 44, the monitoring device. Where a consent under section 25 or 26 requires a meter, gauge or other monitoring device, a person who knowingly or wilfully alters or interferes with it so that it does not measure correctly is liable to a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees.

Section 45A, the residual penalty. A contravention of the Act, or of an order or direction under it, for which no penalty is provided attracts a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees, and up to ten thousand rupees a day while it continues.

Section 45B, the 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 these penalties, after giving the person an opportunity of being heard; and the penalty is in addition to the liability to pay relief or compensation under section 15 read with section 17 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.

Section 45C, appeal, to the National Green Tribunal within sixty days of receiving the order, and not entertained unless ten per cent of the penalty is deposited. Section 45D credits the penalty to the Environmental Protection Fund under section 16 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Section 45E, where imprisonment survives. Whoever fails to comply with section 25 or section 26, the consent provisions, is punishable with imprisonment of not less than one year and six months, extending to six years, and fine, with an additional fine of up to fifty thousand rupees a day if the failure continues after the first conviction, and imprisonment of two to seven years if it continues beyond a year after the conviction. Failing to pay a penalty within ninety days is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or a fine up to twice the penalty, or both. The persons in charge of a company are liable with it.

Section 46 allows a court to publish the name of an offender convicted a second time. Section 48, 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 the contravention was without his knowledge or instructions or that he exercised due diligence; and an officer whose neglect caused it is liable to the same.

Section 49, cognizance. No court shall take cognizance of an offence except on a complaint by the Board or its authorised officer, by the adjudicating officer or an officer he authorises, 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. That is the citizen's route, and it is the same device the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, uses in its section 19.

What the 2024 amendment changed

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024, is part of the same policy as the Jan Vishwas amendments to the Environment (Protection) Act.

It decriminalised the discharge offences, turning sections 41, 41A, 42 and 43 into money penalties imposed by an adjudicating officer, and it omitted section 45, the enhanced punishment for a repeat conviction, and section 47, offences by companies.

It kept imprisonment for the central default, operating without or against consent, in section 45E, and added imprisonment for not paying a penalty.

It inserted section 27A, allowing the Central Government, in consultation with the Central Board, to issue guidelines for the grant, refusal or cancellation of consent, which State Boards must follow.

It allowed the Central Government to exempt categories of industrial plants from the consent requirement, by a proviso to section 25(1).

And it created the adjudication machinery in sections 45B to 45D.

The argument for it is that a prosecution requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt for a discharge default deters nobody and clogs the courts, while a penalty of ten thousand rupees a day is actually imposed. The argument against it is that polluting a river is no longer a crime in itself, and that central guidelines on consent, and a central power to exempt categories of plants, move authority away from the State Boards that the Act was built on.

The laboratories, which are what make a prosecution possible

Section 51, the Central Water Laboratory. The Central Government may establish or specify one.

Section 52, the State Water Laboratory, correspondingly.

Section 53, analysts. The Government appoints Government analysts for the laboratories, and a Board may appoint its own analysts.

Section 54, reports of analysts. A document purporting to be a report of a Government analyst on a sample analysed may be used as evidence of the facts stated in it.

Read these four with section 21, which prescribes how a sample is taken. The procedure is not a formality: a sample taken without notice to the occupier and without division and sealing in his presence is worthless, and that single failure has defeated more prosecutions under this Act than any argument on the merits.

Jurisdiction

Section 58, bar of jurisdiction. No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter which an appellate authority constituted under this Act is empowered to determine, and no injunction shall be granted in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.

Read that with section 33B, which sends an appeal to the National Green Tribunal, and with section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, which gives the Tribunal jurisdiction over a substantial question relating to the environment arising out of the implementation of the enactments in its Schedule I, of which this Act is one.

Worked example

A dyeing unit in Maharashtra operates without consent for two years, discharges effluent into a stream and ignores a closure direction.

Step one, the consent. Failing to comply with section 25 is an offence under section 45E(1): imprisonment of not less than one year and six months, extending to six years, and fine, with a daily fine if the failure continues after conviction.

Step two, the discharge. Contravention of section 24 attracts a penalty under section 43, ten thousand to fifteen lakh rupees and ten thousand rupees a day, imposed by the adjudicating officer under section 45B.

Step three, the direction. Not complying with a direction under section 33A attracts a penalty on the same scale under section 41A.

Step four, what is the proof? A sample taken under section 21 with its procedure observed, analysed at a State Water Laboratory under section 52, and the analyst's report under section 54 as evidence of the facts stated in it.

Step five, who complains, and who decides? For the section 45E offence, the Board or its authorised officer, the adjudicating officer, or a person on sixty days' notice under section 49; the penalties are decided by the adjudicating officer, with an appeal to the National Green Tribunal.

Step six, and if the unit is run by a department of the State Government? Section 48 makes the Head of the Department liable to a penalty of a month's basic salary, subject to want of knowledge or instructions and due diligence.

Step seven, what is the remedy for the farmers whose land is now saline? Not a civil suit, which section 58 bars where the appellate authority is empowered to determine the matter, but the National Green Tribunal, whose relief and compensation are payable in addition to the penalty under section 45B(3), and the polluter pays principle applied as it was in Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners Association v. Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, AIR 2010 SC 3645.

Distinctions

What it does NOT mean

It does not mean the Act has been fully decriminalised. Section 45E keeps a minimum sentence of one year and six months for working without or against consent, and makes not paying a penalty an offence.

It does not mean the amended Act applies everywhere. It applies in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, the Union territories and the States that adopt it, Maharashtra among them since March 2025; in a State that has not adopted it the older sections continue.

It does not mean a citizen has no remedy. Section 49 gives a right to complain on sixty days' notice, and the National Green Tribunal is available under section 33B and under its own Act.

And it does not mean section 58 shuts the civil court out of everything. It bars a suit in respect of a matter the appellate authority is empowered to determine, and it bars an injunction against action under the Act. A suit for damages against a polluter is not such a matter.

Quick revision

Sections 41, 41A and 42: penalties of ten thousand to fifteen lakh rupees, and ten thousand a day, for disobeying directions (including section 33A), obstruction, false statements and failing to intimate an accident.

Section 43: contravention of section 24, the same penalty. Section 44: tampering with a monitoring device required by a consent.

Section 45A: the residual penalty. Section 45B: the adjudicating officer, Joint Secretary or State Secretary rank. Section 45C: appeal to the National Green Tribunal, sixty days, ten per cent deposit. Section 45D: the Environmental Protection Fund.

Section 45E: imprisonment of one year six months to six years for failing to comply with section 25 or 26; up to three years for not paying a penalty within ninety days.

Section 48: the Head of a Government Department pays a month's basic salary. Section 49: complaint by the Board, the adjudicating officer, or any person on sixty days' notice.

Sections 51 to 54: the Central and State Water Laboratories, the analysts, and the report as evidence, read with the sampling procedure in section 21.

Section 58: bar of civil jurisdiction. Section 33B: appeal to the National Green Tribunal. Where it applies: Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, the Union territories and adopting States, Maharashtra since March 2025.

Test yourself

1. What is the sanction for contravening section 24, and how does it compare with a failure to comply with section 25? Since 2024, a penalty under section 43 of not less than ten thousand and up to fifteen lakh rupees, with ten thousand rupees a day while it continues, imposed by an adjudicating officer; a failure to comply with section 25 or 26 remains an offence under section 45E, punishable with imprisonment of one year six months to six years and fine.

2. What did the 2024 amendment change? It turned the discharge and direction offences into money penalties imposed by an adjudicating officer, with an appeal to the National Green Tribunal and the money credited to the Environmental Protection Fund; kept imprisonment for failing to comply with the consent provisions and added it for not paying a penalty; omitted sections 45 and 47; inserted section 27A allowing central guidelines on consent; and allowed categories of industrial plants to be exempted from the consent requirement.

3. Why does the sampling procedure in section 21 matter so much? Because the analyst's report under section 54 is evidence of the facts stated in it, and a sample taken without the notice, division and sealing that section 21 requires is worthless, so the case fails on procedure rather than on the merits.

4. How may a private person prosecute under the Act? By giving not less than sixty days' notice in the prescribed manner of the alleged offence and of the intention to make a complaint, to the Board or its authorised officer, under section 49.