PANJIM: Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) New Delhi that South West Port Ltd (SWPL) cannot be granted any fresh permission or permitted to continue its operations of handling coal and other cargo at berth Nos. 5A and 6A at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) without a valid Environment Clearance (EC). The Board on April 13 filed its affidavit before the NGT Principal Bbench in the application filed by SWPL challenging the Board’s decision to reject its application for grant of fresh Consent to Operate for handling cargo at the concerned berths. GSPCB had rejected the application for failure to have a valid EC from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). “The application was rejected for want of a valid Environmental Clearance (EC) from the MoEF for the project/activity and specifically since the applicant has preferred an application for grant of EC to the MoEF which is yet to be decided,” GSPCB member secretary Shivanand Salelkar said in the affidavit. GSPCB pointed out that the SWPL application was not supported by a valid EC issued by MoEF under the EIA Notification 2006 for the proposed handling of 7.5 million tonnes per annum of coaking/thermal coal/coke, 4.38 million tonnes per annum of limestone (dry bulk cargo) and 2.0 million tonnes per annum of steel coils/slabs, unitised steel cargo at Berth nos. 5A and 6A at MPT. “The documents indicate that the applicant has applied to the MoEF for the grant of EC under the EIA Notification 2006 for proposed terminal capacity enhancement and the said application is yet to be decided by the Authority,” the Board told NGT. The Board informed the Tribunal that as per the latest Supreme Court judgment dated February 7, 2018, the life of any EC issued under the EIA Notification 1994 would be for five years from the date of issue and prior EC from MoEF is mandatory for a project under Category A. NGT was also enlightened that SWPL was involved in gross violation of earlier consent to operate by exceeding the coal handling capacity and a criminal proceeding is also pending.