After the Supreme Court ban order on the use of petcoke and furnace oil on 24 October, a bench of the apex court headed by justice Madan B Lokur eased the ban on the use of petcoke for cement manufacturing and lime industries while doing the same for the use of furnace oil on power generation.
The order was passed on 24 October while the ban became effective from 1 November.
LiveMint reported that the bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Environmentalist MC Mehta and asked the government to modify its notice permitting the use while laying down regulations to the same. The court also asked the government to consult all the stakeholders on the issue regarding the import of petcoke.
This change came after the ministry of environment and forest on 4 December asked for the ban to be eased for some time while they come up with an alternate in the meantime.
The plea was submitted on the basis that the use of petcoke in cement manufacturing is very minimal and is generally used for non-fuel purposes similar to the use of furnace oil in power generation.
The 24 October ban order was an effort to control the level of pollution in Delhi-NCR while making it clear that the ban should be extended to the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh if the governments failed to prohibit their industrial use by 1 November.
The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) had earlier advised that the use, sale and distribution of petcoke and furnace oil should be strictly banned in the NCR region.
(With inputs from Livemint)
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