The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (HPSPCB) has filed a case against Bagha-based JP Cements plant for having undertaken expansion of its plant without the mandatory environmental clearance in violation of the Environment Protection Act, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The development comes almost a year after JP Associates was fined Rs 100 crore by the high court for having bypassed a similar mandatory environment impact assessment (EIA) clearance on false pleas in running its other plant located at Bagheri in Nalagarh. The action in the instance case follows directions of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which had found that the plant had enhanced its capacity of producing clinker from 2.50 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 3.5 MTPA early this year without following the EIA procedure. The Union ministry had asked the state to take action in this regard. The Department of Environment then referred the case to the HPSPCB for taking appropriate action against the plant. A committee was constituted by the board which examined the case and detected various environmental violations. A show-cause notice was thereafter served to the unit on June 24 and a case was finally filed by the HPSPCB in a local court against the plant on July 16. HPSPCB Member Secretary Vineet Kumar said a case had been filed in the court for prosecuting the unit as per the directions of the MoEF. The state government has also informed the MoEF about the action taken in this matter against the plant. The plant had applied to the Single Window Clearance Agency of the Industries Department for seeking clearance for undertaking expansion and enhancing its capacity earlier but it was directed to seek revised environmental clearance, keeping in view the environmental fallout of its enhanced operations. The plant, however, bypassed the mechanism and without seeking the mandatory approval of the SWCA or the State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority applied directly to the MoEF for environmental clearance of its enhanced capacity. This clearance was supposed to be taken before enhancing the capacity.