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The Supreme Court has put on hold an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on Andhra Pradesh for obtaining environmental clearance for the Avulapalli reservoir project in violation of environmental norms.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh has stayed the direction given in the order with regard to penalty/compensation, subject to the State government depositing an amount of Rs 25 crore with the authorities within a period of eight weeks. The apex court in its order stated, "Issue notice, returnable in the month of October 2023. In the meanwhile, there will be a stay on the direction given in the impugned judgment with regard to penalty/compensation, subject to the appellants depositing an amount of Rs.25 crore with the authorities within a period of eight weeks." The order of the apex court came on a plea filed by the Andhra Pradesh government challenging an order of the green tribunal which set aside environmental clearance granted to the Avulapalli reservoir in the state. On May 11, the NGT, on the plea filed by farmers, had set aside the environmental clearance given by the state-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for the construction of the Avulapalli balancing reservoir. It had also imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on Andhra Pradesh payable to the Krishna River Management Board within three months. (ANI)
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