The National Green Tribunal has said that it will not give clearance to the Rs 50,000-crore Posco steel plant in Odisha in its current form and said that the project s to remain suspended until the union Environment Ministry revives it.

The Tribunal said that the memorandum of understanding signed between the state government of Odisha and Posco Steel of South Korea was for 12 million tonnes of steel per annum (mtpa), however the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) was done for only for 4 mtpa, a third of the total proposed capacity.

It observed that the assessment report must be made for the total project and not only for a part of the plan. It also questioned the apportionment of Ms Meena Gupta as the chairperson of the committee to review the clearance project as she is believed to be biased towards the project when she worked at the Secretary of the Environment Ministry.

It has also asked the Environment Ministry to include specific conditions that re to be followed by the steel giant in a timely manner. It has also asked for forming a special committee to overlook Posco's compliance with environmental norms.

A bench of tribunal comprising Justice CV Ramulu and Devendra Kumar Agarwal said, "The environment clearance granted on January 31, 2011 to the project shall remain suspended till such review and appraisal is done by the ministry."