The Hon’ble Supreme Court has allowed import of petroleum coke for cement, limestone and calcium carbide industries but the use of pet coke for steel and aluminum manufacturing is still under consideration, according to media sources.
The apex court has further stated that the decision on pet coke import will have to be vetted by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA).
The next hearing on the case is reportedly due in October this year.
Last week, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi had issued a notification mandating only a limited number of ‘cleaner’ fuels for use within the capital city, and bordering states of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
More importantly, this new notification barred the use of all pollution causing fuels including pet coke, furnace oil, tyre oil etc, in a bid to curb toxic emissions.
Earlier in Oct’17, SC had temporarily banned the use and sale of pet coke in the national capital region (NCR), and then subsequently raised the import duty of the fuel to 10% from 2.5%.
In fact, the continued ambiguity over the issue relating to import and use of pet coke was under “active consideration” by several regulatory bodies, namely the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
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