Anshika Tiwari-
The Supreme Court on Friday has issued a notice in a plea filed against the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the Rourkela Steel Plant Toxic Gas Leak.
The Court took suo moto cognisance on a news item published in the Indian Express on January 7th titled as “Four workers dead due to toxic gas leak in Rourkela Steel Plant.”
The toxic gas which leaked at the Coal Chemicals Department of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Odisha resulted in the demise of four contract workers.
The NGT had directed that compensation be paid to the dependants and families of the deceased.
The Tribunal also constituted an expert committee for the purpose of recommending safety measures to be adopted by industries.
The NGT had directed the plant to provide compensation in the following order, It said,
“They will thus be entitled to compensation of Rs. 24 lacs, 16.5 lacs, 16.5 lacs, and 13.5 lacs respectively. Adding future prospects, final compensation is fixed at Rs. 30 Lakhs for dependents of Abhimanyu, Rs. 20 lakhs each for heirs of Brahmanand and Ganesh, and Rs. 15 lakhs for the heirs of Rabindra. However, if they have higher claims, they are at liberty to take the remedy at the appropriate forum as NGT remedy is summary and does not exclude other remedies.”
An appeal challenging the above direction by the tribunal was filed by the Rourkela Steel Plant.
In its plea, RSP stated that the deaths did not occur due to the gas leak but during preventive maintenance work being undertaken at the Coal Chemical Department (CCD) unit of the Rourkela Steel Plant.
Ms Madhavi Goradia Divan, Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the petitioners submitted that, “My lords, number one, there was no leak and we fall within the definition of employer, therefore, we are both the contractual employer and we will pay not under the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act but under the ESI (Employees State Insurance Act, 1948), I can show my lords those provisions”
The Apex Court has issued a notice in the plea thereby staying the order passed by the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal.
The Court clarified that the dependents of the workers who died in the unfortunate incident shall continue employment till further orders.
A two-judge bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice S Ravindra Bhat, delivered the decision.
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