In Brief
Tejinder Kumar Jolly challenged a National Green Tribunal order that dismissed a case about stone crusher operations in Uttarakhand without substantive adjudication. The NGT had originally directed closure or relocation of polluting units but later dismissed the compliance case as not requiring adjudication. The Supreme Court held that when a case is registered based on an adverse government compliance report showing violations of environmental norms, the tribunal must adjudicate it on merit rather than dismiss it cryptically. The Court affirmed that pre-existing industrial units cannot claim exemption from environmental compliance and must follow pollution control norms. The appeal was allowed and the case was remitted to the NGT for proper adjudication.
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