What Happened
- The National Green Tribunal's (NGT) Western Zone Bench — comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and Expert Member Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee — ordered a joint four-member committee to survey and assess illegal quarrying operations adjacent to the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), commonly known as the Tata Cancer Hospital, in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.
- The quarrying operations had received permissions only up to FY 2020-21, but six stone-crushing machines have continued to operate with Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) consent documents — making them illegal in terms of excavation permissions.
- Environmental advocates (NatConnect Foundation) and a suo motu case based on media reports triggered the NGT proceedings. ACTREC itself had written to the Maharashtra government alleging structural damage from illegal stone quarrying on an adjacent hill.
- The NGT-ordered joint committee includes representatives from: MPCB, Raigad District Collector, Directorate of Geology and Mining, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- The committee must within one month: determine scale of unauthorised excavation (using Electronic Total Station survey), assess structural damage to hospital buildings, evaluate health impacts on immunocompromised cancer patients from dust and vibrations, and recommend remediation.
Static Topic Bridges
National Green Tribunal (NGT): Powers, Jurisdiction, and Composition
The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 established the NGT as a specialised judicial body for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests, and enforcement of environmental rights. The NGT has both original jurisdiction (first-instance applications) and appellate jurisdiction (appeals against orders of pollution control boards and other environmental regulators). Every case is heard by a bench comprising at least one Judicial Member and one Expert Member — ensuring both legal and scientific perspectives.
- Established under: National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (came into force October 18, 2010)
- Principal Bench: New Delhi; Circuit Benches: Bhopal, Pune (Western Zone), Kolkata, Chennai
- Composition: Chairperson (of Supreme Court judge or High Court Chief Justice rank) + Judicial Members + Expert Members (domain experts in environment/science)
- Jurisdiction: Civil cases involving "substantial question relating to environment" under Schedule I laws (Environment Protection Act 1986, Water Act 1974, Air Act 1981, Forest Conservation Act 1980, Biodiversity Act 2002)
- NGT's suo motu power: affirmed by Supreme Court in 2021 — can take cognizance based on media reports
- NGT is not bound by Code of Civil Procedure or Indian Evidence Act; guided by principles of natural justice
- Applicants must file within 6 months of cause of action (extendable by 60 days on sufficient cause)
Connection to this news: The Western Zone Bench's order demonstrates two key NGT powers in action: responding to petitioners (NatConnect Foundation) and exercising suo motu jurisdiction based on media reports — both in the same case — to probe an environmental harm with direct public health dimensions.
Environment Protection Act 1986 and Mining Regulation
The Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 is India's umbrella environmental legislation, enacted under Article 253 (Parliament's power to legislate on international treaty obligations — in this case, the Stockholm Declaration, 1972). Section 5 of EPA 1986 empowers the Central Government to issue directions, including closure of industries causing environmental damage. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act), 1957, as amended in 2021, governs mining leases, environmental clearances, and District Mineral Foundations. Illegal mining (mining without valid lease or beyond approved limits) violates both MMDR Act and EPA 1986.
- EPA 1986: Section 15 — penalties for contravention (up to 5 years imprisonment + Rs 1 lakh fine; continuing offence: Rs 5,000/day)
- MMDR Act 1957 (amended 2021): requires valid mining lease; state governments issue leases; MoEFCC grants environmental clearance
- District Mineral Foundation (DMF): established under MMDR 2015 amendment; receives a share of mining royalties for welfare of mining-affected communities
- Kharghar case: quarrying permissions lapsed 2021; continued operation = double violation (no mining lease renewal + MPCB consents for crushers only)
- Six crusher units operating with MPCB consent but without valid excavation permissions = regulatory fragmentation enabling illegal activity to persist
Connection to this news: The Kharghar case exposes a regulatory gap: crushers had pollution control board consent (under Air/Water Acts) but no valid mining lease — two different regulators, two different statutes, creating a loophole where illegal extraction continued behind a fig leaf of partial compliance.
Health and Environmental Impacts of Quarrying and Stone Crushing
Stone quarrying and crushing generate respirable particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), silica dust, and vibrations from blasting. For immunocompromised cancer patients — whose immune systems are suppressed by chemotherapy or post-transplant medications — airborne particulate exposure dramatically increases infection risk and respiratory complications. Vibrations from quarry blasting can compromise sensitive medical equipment, including linear accelerators (radiotherapy machines), CT scanners, and research laboratory instruments requiring vibration isolation. The NGT has previously addressed mining near hospitals and schools under the precautionary principle (in dubio pro natura — in doubt, for nature/health).
- ACTREC (Tata Cancer Hospital): operates under Department of Atomic Energy; national-level cancer treatment and research centre
- Immunocompromised patients: vulnerable to infections from dust particles that would be tolerable to healthy individuals
- Silica dust from stone crushing: causes silicosis (a chronic lung disease) with long-term occupational exposure
- NGT's precautionary approach: applied when full scientific proof is unavailable but harm is plausible
- Electronic Total Station (ETS) survey: precision GPS-based survey tool used for measuring excavation volumes and mapping — directed by NGT for quantification
- MPCB's role questioned: granting consent for crushers without verifying whether underlying excavation was legally authorised
Connection to this news: The NGT's specific directive to assess health impacts on cancer patients applies the right-to-health dimension of Article 21 (as interpreted by the Supreme Court in multiple rulings — including Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, 1991) to an industrial-pollution scenario with uniquely vulnerable affected persons.
Key Facts & Data
- Location: ACTREC (Tata Cancer Hospital), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Institution affiliation: Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India
- Quarrying permissions expired: FY 2020-21
- Crusher units still operating: 6 (with MPCB consent but no valid excavation permission)
- NGT bench: Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh + Expert Member Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (Western Zone Bench)
- NGT order date: February 12, 2026 (uploaded February 17, 2026)
- Joint Committee members: MPCB, Raigad District Collector, Directorate of Geology and Mining, MoEFCC
- Survey method: Electronic Total Station (ETS) — precision excavation volume measurement
- Report deadline: One month from NGT order
- Next hearing: April 20, 2026
- Petitioner: NatConnect Foundation (Director B N Kumar); suo motu case also initiated