Nagapattinam oil spill: National Green Tribunal records no-fault liability; orders CPCL to pay ₹5 crore compensation

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited ordered to pay ₹5 crore compensation for oil spill off Nagapattinam coast in March 2023.

The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has directed Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) to pay ₹5 crore as compensation for the oil spill in Pattinamacherry, off Nagapattinam coast, in March 2023.

In a suo motu petition initially taken up by the Principal Bench of the NGT and later transferred to the Southern Bench, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 noted that although the leakage in the pipeline happened not because of the negligence or mistake of the CPCL, but only due to an external force, CPCL cannot be absolved of its liability. 

The leak occurred in a nine-km long undersea pipeline in CPCL’s Cauvery Basin Refinery at Nagapattinam. While the refinery ceased to operate in 2019, the pipeline was used to transport crude oil from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to cargo ships at Karaikal Port.

Reports of The Energy and Resources Institute, a not-for-profit research organisation, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, National Centre for Coastal Research, and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board confirmed that there was no significant environmental damage in and around the spillage area and the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon concentrations were within the permissible level.

As per TNPCB, 10,000 litres of oil had leaked, whereas only 9,000 litres were removed or recovered. The CPCL had not accounted for 1,200 litres that were either mixed with the seawater or sand. “These kinds of incidents/accidents are prone to occur in the future also. Merely because the reports of the various institutions have given a no-impact report, the CPCL cannot be absolved of its liability,” the Bench stated.

Referring to USA’s the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 1980 commonly known as ‘Superfund’ — which addresses the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and respond to environmental emergencies involving pollutants — the Bench said the application of no-fault liability principle can be justified in cases involving hazardous materials like crude oil. 

No-fault liability serves a dual purpose, as it upholds the duty of care for entities in control of such materials even in the absence of proven negligence and it ensures that compensation is commensurate with the actual damages occurred, the Bench said.