A bench consisting of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, together with Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, issued a notice about Punjab's appeal, stayed the NGT ruling, and set a date for a follow-up hearing on October 21.

In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court halted a National Green Tribunal (NGT) verdict that would have fined the State of Punjab more than ₹1,000 crore for poor garbage management [State of Punjab v. Union of India and Ors.].

A bench consisting of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, together with Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, issued a notice about Punjab's appeal, stayed the NGT ruling, and set a date for a follow-up hearing on October 21.

Punjab was fined ₹2,080-crore by the NGT on September 22, 2022, for neglecting to treat both liquid and solid waste.

The directive from the Supreme Court in the cases of Almitra H. Patel vs. Union of India & Ors and Paryavaran Suraksha vs. Union of India required the tribunal to keep an eye on the implementation of solid and liquid waste management regulations, and that is how the ruling was passed.

The NGT had ordered the State to place ₹2080 crores in a ring-fenced account that would be used for restoration efforts and managed in accordance with Chief Secretary's instructions.

The NGT observed that neither a ring-fenced account nor the penalty sum were established during the case's July hearing. The Tribunal concluded that this inaction qualified as a breach of NGT Act section 26.

The Tribunal on July 25 imposed an extra penalty of approximately ₹1,026 crore to be deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) based on environmental infractions over the previous six months.

Punjab then appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court, which decided to delay it on September 20.