New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- The Supreme Court has strengthened the hands of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to impose higher environmental compensation (EC) on real estate projects, observing that if a company profits more from the scale of the project, it needs to bear more responsibility towards the environment. The order passed on Friday came in two appeals challenging separate orders passed by the NGT western zone bench at Pune imposing Rs.5 crore environment compensation on a Rs.335-crore project built by M/s Rhythm County in August 2022 and Rs.4.47 crore EC on a Rs.76-crore project developed by M/s Keystone Properties in September 2022. Dismissing both appeals, the bench of justices Dipankar Datta and VIjay Bishnoi said, "If a company has a high turnover, it reflects the sheer scale of its operations. Such a company, if found to contribute generously to environmental damage, its turnover can have a direct co-relation with the extent of damage that is caused." Both realty firms challenged the tribunal orders, arguing that the NGT did not have the power under the law to impose such excessive costs. The tribunal order relied on a 2018 top court judgment in Goel Ganga Developers case, where it was held that as a general rule, up to 5% of the project cost can be levied on defaulting companies that have flagrantly violated the law. In the said case, the court had imposed a higher environment compensation of Rs.100 crore (or 10% of project cost) noting the grave damage caused by the project proponent. The question before the top court bench was whether the NGT Act permitted linking project cost as a factor for determining or enhancing EC. The bench held that in cases relating to protection of environment, linking a company's scale of operations (like turnover, production volume, or revenue generation) to the environmental harm can be a powerful factor for determining compensation. "Bigger operations signify a bigger footprint. Larger scale often means more resource use, more emissions, more waste leading to more environmental stress," it observed....