NEW DELHI: The government of India told the Supreme Court of India that pet coke was a “highly polluting” fuel and its use should be allowed only in certain industries as feedstock and not for manufacturing purpose.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) told a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that it had convened a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) in this regard and had also discussed it with Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the MoEF&CC, said that a consensus decision was taken during the deliberation that use of imported pet coke all over the country be permitted only in industries like cement, lime stone and calcium carbide.
Nadkarni said that import of pet coke was running into Rs 15,000 crore annually and decision to ban it would have implication on foreign exchange and they would discuss with the Ministry of Finance on this issue.