In February 2022, the NGT coram led by Justice (retd.) Adarsh Kumar Goel had ordered the appellants, Moon Beverages (Coco Cola) and Varun Beverages (PepsiCo), to pay a total of around ₹25 crores for illegally abstracting groundwater and inflicting environmental harm.
The NGT had ruled that the companies’ bottling operations were in violation of environmental legislation issued by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) as they operated without the requisite no objection certificate (NOC) to withdraw groundwater.
“We are of the view that PPs (Project Proponents) are responsible for illegal extraction of ground water at least after expiry of NOCs, issued to them by CGWA. They continued to extract ground water without any authority. Further, they are also liable to pay environmental compensation for causing loss to environment by failing to comply the most crucial condition of NOCs, i.e., recharge of water,” the NGT had said in its orders passed by
Source: Barandbench
