Ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil

20 November 2017

Last month, India’s Supreme Court directed the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan to ban the use of pet coke and furnace oil in the industries and made it clear that their failure to do so would force it to ban these materials from 1^st November, 2017.

That time, the court was hearing a PIL filed in 1985 which had raised the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR. Earlier, the court was told about the ill-effects of pet coke and furnace oil used in the industries on ambient air and it was said that emissions from such units were highly toxic as these discharged high sulphur content.

Also, the apex court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), in its report to the top court, had recommended that “distribution, sale and use of furnace oil and pet coke would be strictly banned in NCR”.

Now with the recent turn of events, Supreme Court on Friday requested all States and Union Territories to move forward towards a nationwide ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil to power up industries, in a bid to fight pollution.