TNPCB tells NGT Sun Pharma did not implement proposed expansion in Chengalpattu
The company obtained environmental clearance from the Centre for increasing its production. TNPCB said the company, however, had not got the Board’s ‘consent to operate’ for the expansion
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s facility in Chengalpattu, India, is currently functioning within its allocated production limits and has not proceeded with the proposed expansion. This assertion was included in a recent report submitted to the southern bench of the NGT in reaction to a legal challenge brought by K.R.
Selvaraj Kumar of Meenavar Nala Sangam, who contended that the environmental permit granted to the company for expansion was invalid. According to the TNPCB's report, the plant had initially received consent from the board in 2005 to establish operations and in 2006 to operate, with a total production capacity of 25.5 tonnes per month.
Additional permits were granted for modifications to sewage, trade effluent, and air pollution controls, without raising the permitted production quantity. The company later secured environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change on March 31, 2022, to boost production from 25.5 tonnes per month to 134.082 tonnes per month for active pharmaceutical ingredients within the same facility.
However, the TNPCB clarified that Sun Pharma had not received prior authorization from the board to expand. An inspection carried out by the TNPCB on September 12, 2026, confirmed that the facility was operating but its output remained within the permitted capacity of 25.5 tonnes per month. The board also noted that no expansion work was undertaken.
This case is also tied to a prior NGT ruling from an original application filed in 2020. The tribunal had identified violations involving the facility's operation without proper environmental clearance for an earlier expansion, and had ordered an environmental compensation of ₹58.20 lakh for groundwater and soil contamination. It also mandated an interim payment of ₹10 crore and instructed the TNPCB to determine any additional compensation for operations exceeding the authorized pollution load.
The TNPCB report stated that although the company obtained environmental clearance for the proposed expansion in 2022 and extended the board's consent until March 31, 2028, it had not acquired the specific consent needed to execute the expansion.
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