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2019 (2) TMI 1938 - SC - Indian LawsRejection of renewal of consent to operate - Section 27 of the Water Act and Section 21 of the Air Act - HELD THAT:- An appeal is a creature of statute and an appellate tribunal has to act strictly within the domain prescribed by statute. It is obvious that an appeal would lie from an order or decision of the appellate authority Under Section 28 of the Water Act to the NGT only Under Section 33B(a) of the Water Act read with Section 16(a) of the NGT Act. Similarly, an appeal would lie from an order or decision of the appellate authority Under Section 31 of the Air Act to the NGT only Under Section 31B of the Air Act read with Section 16(f) of the NGT Act. Obviously, since no order or decision had been made by the appellate authority under either the Water Act or the Air Act, any direct appeal against an original order to the NGT would be incompetent. NGT's jurisdiction being strictly circumscribed by Section 33B of the Water Act, read with Section 31B of the Air Act, read with Section 16(a) and (f) of the NGT Act, would make it clear that it is only orders or decisions of the appellate authority that are appealable, and not original orders. On the facts of the present case, it is clear that an appeal was pending before the appellate authority when the NGT set aside the original order dated 09.04.2018. This being the case, the NGT's order being clearly outside its statutory powers conferred by the Water Act, the Air Act, and the NGT Act, would be an order passed without jurisdiction. In the present case, it is clear that Section 16 of the NGT Act is cast in terms that are similar to Section 14(b) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, in that appeals are against the orders, decisions, directions, or determinations made under the various Acts mentioned in Section 16. It is clear, therefore, that under the NGT Act, the Tribunal exercising appellate jurisdiction cannot strike down Rules or Regulations made under this Act. Therefore, it would be fallacious to state that the Tribunal has powers of judicial review akin to that of a High Court exercising constitutional powers Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India - the State Government order made Under Section 18 of the Water Act, not being the subject matter of any appeal Under Section 16 of the NGT Act, cannot be "judicially reviewed" by the NGT. We are cognizant of the fact that the Respondent's plant has been shut down since 09.04.2018. Since we have set aside the impugned judgments of the NGT on the ground of maintainability, the order dated 22.01.2019 passed by the TNPCB, being a consequential order, is also set aside - Appeal disposed off.
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