Madras HC relief to Sun Pharma, stays NGT order of Rs 10 crore compensation

New Delhi: A division bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the orders of the Southern Regional Bench of the National Green Tribunal levying an interim compensation of Rs 10 crore on Sun Pharma for expanding its drug manufacturing unit in Maduranthagam allegedly without necessary environmental clearance from the authority concerned.

The bench of Justices V M Velumani and R Hemalatha granted the injunction while passing interim orders on an appeal from the pharmaceutical company.

Originally, while entertaining a petition, the NGT on September 29 this year had told Sun Pharma to pay the interim compensation for operating and expanding its activity of drug manufacturing in bulk quantity at its Madhuranthagam facility without a valid environmental clearance.

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The NGT, comprising judicial member Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member K Satyagopal, had observed that Sun Pharma carried out operations “illegally” between 1994 and 2006 without environmental clearance. It did not obtain the clearance under the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 1994, from the central agency.

Sun Pharma is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company manufactures and markets a large basket of pharmaceutical formulations covering a broad spectrum of chronic and acute therapies. It includes generics, branded generics, specialty, complex or difficult-to-make technology-intensive products, over-the-counter (OTC), antiretrovirals (ARVs), Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), and Intermediates.

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