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Oil India can’t be judge in its own cause, will reconstitute panel: SC on Baghjan oil well tragedy
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will re-constitute a committee set up to suggest remedial actions after assessing the environmental damage caused by the PSU following a major fire in Assam’s Baghjan oil well saying “Oil India cannot be a judge in its own cause”. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and M R Shah asked law officers — K M Nataraj and Aman Lekhi — to go through the suggestions given by petitioners on the names of experts and it will re-constitute a committee.
“We will re-constitute the committee and it will be headed by Justice B P Katakey. Oil India cannot be judge in its own cause. We will delete the names of representatives of Oil India and instead incorporate some experts, who will be associated with the work of assessing the damage and providing remedial compensation on account of the loss which has been caused to the environment, including the loss of biodiversity as a result of the blowout which took place at the oil field of OIL,” the bench said.
Well number 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district, had been spewing gas uncontrollably and it caught fire on June 9 last year, killing two of OIL’s fire fighters on the site.
The top court said that on August 26, the court will take up the matter as first item and pass the orders with regard to the same.
Senior advocate Siddharth Mitra, appearing for petitioner activist Bonani Kakkar, said that four out of six experts who have been suggested are well conversant with the subject matter, having been associated with the work of the Committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The committee is headed by Justice B P Katakey.
During the hearing, the bench told Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi that how can a representative from Oil India be in a panel to assess the damage, when the damage is alleged to have been caused by the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU).
“Suppose there is a chemical industry responsible for a gas leak or any other incident. Now, when one has to assess the damage caused to the environment or to biodiversity, can that company be part of the committee. Of course it can be heard by the committee but cannot be part of that committee,” the bench told Lekhi.
Mitra said that no funds have been given for the restoration of the environment ever since the incident took place.
“It is undisputed that people have been given compensation to those who got displaced but as far as environment and biodiversity damage is concerned, not a single penny has been given,” he said.
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