NGT slaps ₹5 crore no-fault liability on CPCL for oil leak
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday penalised CPCL over an oil spill in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam last year, and levied a penalty of Rs five crore on the IOCL group company.
“Whether the damage is man-made or natural, the hazards of it are known in crude oil transportation and such incidents underscore the justification for imposing no-fault liability,” the NGT’s Southern Zone Bench of Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member Dr Satyagopal Korlapati, an expert member, said.
The bench had taken up the matter on its own, based a media report.
“The leak was from a 9km-long 20-inch diameter pipeline from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) Cauvery Basin Refinery (CBR) crude storage tanks at Nagapattinam to Karaikal Port,” it was reported.
The NGT said that though it noted the stand of the Indian Coast Guard and the CPCL that there was not much damage to seawater due to the oil spillage, the bench felt it appropriate to direct an investigation to ascertain whether any remedial measures were required.