In short. Residents affected by factory pollution can complain to the state pollution board, which can inspect the unit and order closure or disconnection of power and water under section 33A of the Water Act and section 31A of the Air Act. The SDM can pass a nuisance order under BNSS section 152. If the authorities fail, the NGT can direct action and award compensation.
Most people living next to a polluting unit have already tried the obvious things: a word with the owner, a call to the local councillor, perhaps a complaint on an app that went nowhere. The law gives you more than that, but the remedies work best in a particular order, and each one depends on evidence that has to be gathered before you use it. This post sets out that order, what each authority can actually do, and where residents usually go wrong.
It is written for the resident, not the factory owner. If you run a unit and have received a closure direction, our post on appealing a pollution board closure order is the one you need. If the source is a construction site rather than a factory, see complaints about construction dust and debris, and if it is noise from a generator or machinery, see our post on noise pollution complaints.
- Regulator
- DPCC (Delhi), UPPCB (UP), HSPCB (Haryana), with CPCB and CAQM in NCR
- Board's powers
- Inspection, closure, stopping power and water (s.33A Water Act, s.31A Air Act)
- Magistrate's power
- Conditional order to remove a public nuisance, BNSS s.152
- Tribunal
- NGT Principal Bench, New Delhi: 6 months for s.14, 5 years for compensation
What can you do about a factory polluting near your home?
You have five realistic remedies. The first is a complaint to the state pollution board, which has the technical staff and the legal power to inspect a unit, take samples and close it. The second is the Sub-Divisional Magistrate or District Magistrate, who can order a public nuisance to be removed under section 152 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The third is the civic or development authority, if the factory is running where industry is not allowed. The fourth is a civil suit for an injunction, useful in narrower cases. The fifth is the National Green Tribunal, when the authorities have been told and have not acted.
Criminal complaints to the police exist too, but they are the weakest tool for ongoing pollution. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita does punish public nuisance (section 270, with a fine of up to ₹1,000 under section 292), fouling a public water source (section 279) and making the atmosphere noxious to health (section 280), but these carry small penalties and the police are rarely equipped to measure emissions. Use the police where there is something they can see and stop, such as waste being burnt at night.
Which remedy comes first depends on what you can prove and how urgent the harm is. In nearly every case, though, the pollution board complaint should be in writing and on record before anything else, because every later forum will ask what the board was told.
First, find out what the unit is and whether it is allowed to run
Before you complain, learn three facts about the factory: its legal name and address, what it makes, and whether it holds a consent to operate. Every unit that discharges effluent or emissions needs a consent to establish and a consent to operate from the state board under section 25 of the Water Act and section 21 of the Air Act. The Central Pollution Control Board classifies industries as red, orange, green or white by their pollution potential. Red category units, such as electroplating, dyeing, tanning, chemical and many metal processes, face the strictest consent conditions and siting restrictions, and have no place in a residential lane. White category units, the least polluting, do not need consent at all.
Many state boards publish lists of consents granted on their websites. If you cannot find the unit there, file an RTI application with the board asking for the unit's consent orders, its category, the last inspection reports and any directions issued. Our post on RTI applications and appeals explains how to word it and what to do if the reply is evasive. An answer that the unit has no consent, or that its consent expired, changes your case completely: the question is no longer whether it is polluting, but why it is operating at all.
Also check land use. In Delhi, the Master Plan allows only limited household industries in residential areas, with restrictions on power load, workers and the type of activity, and polluting industries belong in approved industrial areas. In Noida and Greater Noida the development authority controls land use, in Ghaziabad the GDA and the municipal corporation. A dyeing or plating unit in a residential lane is usually breaking the planning law as well as the pollution law, and that gives you a second authority with power to seal.
The evidence that makes complaints work
Boards act on specifics and tribunals decide on documents. Build this file from the first week.
About the source
- Name and address of the unit, and photographs of its board or gate
- What it makes or processes, if known
- Distance from your house, measured or marked on a map
- Consent status from the board's website or RTI
- Working hours, especially night operations
About the pollution
- Dated photographs and short videos of smoke, discharge or dumping
- A diary of times, smell, colour, and effect on your family
- Nearby air quality readings from official monitoring stations
- Lab test of water if a borewell or tap is affected
- Samples are best taken by the board itself; ask for it in writing
About the harm and the complaints
- Medical records for breathing, skin or eye problems
- Loss of crops, livestock or property, with photographs and bills
- Every complaint sent, with postal or email proof
- Complaint numbers from apps and helplines
- Replies, inspection notices and RTI responses
How to complain to the pollution control board
Write to the board's regional office for your area (in Delhi, the DPCC; in UP, the UPPCB regional office at Noida or Ghaziabad; in Haryana, the HSPCB regional office), with a copy to the Member Secretary. Keep it to two pages. Say who you are, where the unit is, what it is doing, since when, how it affects you, and what you want: an inspection, sampling, and action under the Water and Air Acts. Attach a map, photographs and your diary. Send it by email and speed post, and keep both proofs.
Online channels help create a record. The CPCB's Sameer app and the Delhi government's Green Delhi app accept air pollution complaints with photographs; municipal apps take complaints about waste burning; UP has its integrated grievance portal. Use them, note the complaint number, and take a screenshot of the status. Do not rely on an app alone. A complaint closed as "resolved" without inspection is common, and only a formal written complaint gives you something to show the tribunal later.
Ask for a site inspection and, where effluent or emissions are involved, sampling under the procedure in the Water and Air Acts. Sampling done by the board's officers in the prescribed manner carries far more weight than any test you arrange privately. If the inspection is announced in advance or happens at midday when the unit runs at night, write again within a day, saying so, with your videos showing the night operation.
What can the pollution board actually do?
More than most people realise. Under section 33A of the Water Act and section 31A of the Air Act, a state board can issue directions to any person or industry, including closure, prohibition or regulation of any process, and stoppage of electricity, water or any other service. Boards also issue show cause notices, require installation or repair of effluent treatment plants and air pollution control devices, and assess environmental compensation using methods worked out by the CPCB.
Since the Jan Vishwas Act 2023 and the Water amendment of 2024, many breaches that used to be prosecuted as offences under the Air, Water and Environment (Protection) Acts are now dealt with by monetary penalties imposed by an adjudicating officer, with an appeal to the NGT. For a resident, this means the board's administrative powers (inspection, directions and closure) matter more than prosecution. Ask for those in your complaint.
In the National Capital Region there is another layer. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) issues directions for the whole NCR, including the fuels industries may burn and the restrictions that apply under the Graded Response Action Plan in winter. Its inspection teams have ordered closure of units using unapproved fuel. If a unit is burning coal, waste or other unapproved fuel in NCR, mention the CAQM directions in your complaint and send a copy to the Commission.
Which authority handles which kind of factory pollution
Send your complaint to the authority with power over the specific problem, with copies to the others.
| Problem | Primary authority | Also copy |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke, fumes, chimney emissions | State pollution board (DPCC, UPPCB, HSPCB) | CAQM in NCR, District Magistrate |
| Coloured or untreated effluent into drains | State pollution board | Jal board or local water authority, municipal body |
| Burning of plastic, rubber or waste | Municipal body and pollution board | Local police (it is visible and can be stopped) |
| Factory running in a residential area | MCD or DDA (Delhi), Noida Authority, GDA or municipal corporation (UP) | Pollution board |
| Smell, dust or vibration affecting a locality | SDM or DM under BNSS section 152 | Pollution board |
| Contaminated groundwater or borewell | State pollution board | Groundwater authority, district health officer |
| Hazardous waste dumping | State pollution board | CPCB, District Magistrate |
| Generator or machinery noise | Police and the noise rules authority | Pollution board |
Can the SDM or DM stop a factory nuisance?
Yes. Section 152 of the BNSS (which replaced section 133 of the old CrPC) lets a District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate or other Executive Magistrate empowered by the state pass a conditional order when a trade or occupation, or the keeping of any goods, is injurious to the health or physical comfort of the community. The order requires the person to stop or remove the nuisance within a fixed time, or to appear and show cause why the order should not be made absolute. If no sufficient cause is shown, the order becomes absolute, and disobeying it is an offence.
This remedy is quick, local and inexpensive, and it is the one people forget. It suits smell, smoke, dust and vibration from small units, where the harm to the neighbourhood is obvious and does not need laboratory proof. File an application before the SDM of your sub-division with the same evidence you gave the board, and a list of affected households with their signatures. The magistrate may ask the police or the board for a report before acting.
Its limit is that the magistrate is not a technical regulator. For a large unit with consent from the board, where the dispute is about whether emissions exceed standards, the board and the NGT are better placed. Courts have also sent residents to this remedy: in February 2026 the Delhi High Court, hearing residents' complaints about loudspeakers, directed them to the designated authority and the Executive Magistrate under the BNSS rather than deciding the matter in a writ.
The order to use the remedies in
This sequence works for most residents. Skip ahead only where the harm is serious and immediate.
Record and identify
Spend two weeks collecting dated photographs, videos and a diary. Identify the unit, its address and what it makes, and mark its distance from homes on a map.
Check consent and land use
Search the board's website for the unit's consent and file an RTI if you cannot find it. Check whether industry is permitted at that location.
Complain to the board in writing
Write to the regional office with evidence, asking for inspection, sampling and directions. Copy the District Magistrate and, in NCR, the CAQM. Log app complaints as well.
Follow up within three to four weeks
If nothing happens, send a reminder and an RTI asking for the action taken on your complaint. If an inspection was useless, say so in writing with evidence.
Approach the SDM under section 152
For visible nuisance (smell, smoke, dust, vibration), apply to the SDM with signatures from affected households. Ask the civic body to act if the unit breaks land use rules.
File before the NGT
If the authorities have failed, file under section 14 of the NGT Act (and section 15 if you claim compensation), within six months of the relevant cause of action, with the complaints and replies annexed.
You do not have to finish each step before starting the next. The board complaint and the RTI can go the same day, and an SDM application can run alongside an NGT case. What matters is that by the time you reach the tribunal, the record shows you asked the right authorities to act.
When should you go to the NGT?
Go to the National Green Tribunal when you have complained, given the authorities a fair chance, and the pollution continues; or when the harm is serious enough that waiting is unreasonable, such as untreated chemical effluent entering a water source. The tribunal can constitute a joint committee of the CPCB, the state board and the District Magistrate to inspect the unit, direct closure until compliance, order restoration of a drain or land, and impose environmental compensation.
The tribunal is less suited to a dispute between one household and a small workshop where the harm is limited to that household. Section 14 of the NGT Act requires a substantial question relating to the environment, and the tribunal has often sent purely individual grievances back to the authorities. If several households are affected, file together, through the RWA or as joint applicants. The procedure, the paper book, the fee and the time limits are covered step by step in our post on how to file an application in the NGT, and our page on NGT cases at the Principal Bench explains the tribunal's wider work.
When Advocate B.K. Singh is asked whether a residents' group should go to the NGT, he looks first at the complaint trail rather than the pollution itself. A group that has written to the board twice, has an RTI reply showing no action, and has dated videos is ready. A group with strong feelings and no paper is not, and is better served by spending a month building the record.
A made-up example: a granule unit in a Delhi lane
Here's a made-up example. A family in an outer Delhi colony lives three houses away from a small unit that melts plastic scrap into granules. From October, black smoke and a burning smell fill the lane most evenings after 7 pm, and their elderly father's breathing gets worse. A neighbour's complaint on an app is marked resolved after a week, but nothing changes.
The family and four neighbours start a diary and take short videos each evening, showing the smoke and the time. They write to the DPCC's district office and the District Magistrate, attaching the videos, a map showing the unit 40 metres from their houses, and the father's prescription. They also file an RTI asking whether the unit has consent to operate. The RTI reply, received in five weeks, says the board has no record of any consent for that address.
With that reply, they apply to the SDM under section 152 of the BNSS with 22 signatures, and write again to the DPCC enclosing the RTI reply. The DPCC inspects in the evening this time, finds the unit operating without consent and directs its closure and disconnection of electricity. Two months later the unit restarts at night under a new name. The residents, now with a full record, file before the NGT asking for monitoring and enforcement; at the first hearing the tribunal asks the DPCC and the district administration for an action-taken report. The case was strong because each step was written down.
Can you file a civil suit against the factory?
Sometimes. A civil suit for a permanent injunction and damages on the ground of private nuisance is possible where the factory's activity interferes with your use and enjoyment of your property in a specific way: vibration cracking your wall, soot settling on your terrace, a chimney blowing directly into your windows. For a public nuisance affecting many people, section 91 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows a suit for declaration and injunction by the Advocate General, or by two or more persons with the leave of the court.
There is a limit. Section 29 of the NGT Act bars civil courts from deciding claims for relief or compensation that the NGT can adjudicate. Where your claim is in substance one about pollution under the Water, Air or Environment Acts, expect the defendant to argue that the civil court has no jurisdiction. A suit works best where the harm is to your property in particular and the case can be framed as ordinary nuisance. Our page on civil law practice covers injunction suits generally, and the post on injunction suits against interference with your property explains interim injunctions under Order 39.
Can you claim compensation for health damage or property loss?
Yes. Section 15 of the NGT Act allows victims of pollution to claim relief and compensation, restitution of damaged property and restoration of the environment, within five years of the date the cause for compensation first arose (extendable by 60 days). The tribunal applies the polluter pays principle under section 20 and does not require the strict proof a civil court would.
Even so, a compensation claim needs a link between the harm and the source. Medical records showing respiratory or skin conditions that began or worsened during the period of pollution, a doctor's note on likely causes, water test reports, and evidence of crop or livestock loss are the kind of documents that make a claim believable. The fee is 1 per cent of the compensation claimed. In many cases the tribunal awards environmental compensation to be used for restoration of the area rather than paid to individuals, so frame your prayers with both in mind.
What if the factory has a valid consent from the board?
A consent to operate is not a licence to pollute. It comes with conditions: discharge and emission standards, a working effluent treatment plant or air pollution control system, stack height, monitoring and reporting. A unit with valid consent that breaches those conditions can still face directions, closure and compensation. Ask the board, by RTI if necessary, for the consent order itself, so you can point to the exact condition being broken.
Consent also does not settle the land use question. A unit may have obtained consent while its location breaks the Master Plan or the development authority's rules, and the planning authority can act on that separately. And where a consent was granted without considering an obvious problem, such as a school next door, that grant can itself be questioned before the NGT within the time limits.
Can the factory owner take action against you for complaining?
Residents sometimes worry about a defamation case or a threat from the owner. A factual complaint to a regulator, made in good faith with evidence, is very different from a public accusation on social media. Keep your complaints addressed to the authorities, stick to what you saw and recorded, and avoid personal allegations about the owner's character or motives. Our post on criminal defamation under section 356 of the BNS explains where the line falls.
If the owner or his workers threaten you, that is a separate matter for the police. Criminal intimidation is an offence under section 351 of the BNS. Write down the date, time and words used, keep any messages, and report it at the police station in writing. A threat made to stop a complaint is also worth mentioning to the board and the tribunal, because it explains why some neighbours may not sign.
Mistakes residents make
- Relying on calls and app complaints alone. They leave no usable record. Always follow with a written complaint by email and post.
- Complaining about pollution in general. Name the unit, give its address and describe what it does and when.
- Testing samples privately and treating the result as proof. Private tests help you decide; samples drawn by the board under the statutory procedure carry weight.
- Not checking consent and land use. These two facts often decide the case faster than any pollution reading.
- Going to the NGT too early. Without a complaint trail, the tribunal may simply send you back to the board.
- Waiting too long. The six-month limit under section 14 runs from the cause of action. Keep a recent event in the record, such as the board's failure to act.
- Personal attacks on the owner. Stick to facts and keep complaints with the authorities, not on social media.
- Going it alone. One household's complaint is easy to ignore. A group with an RWA resolution and signatures is not.
When is legal action not worth it?
Not every smell or sound from a workshop justifies a case. If the unit is a small, permitted activity, operates in daytime, and the problem is occasional, a conversation through the RWA, or a letter asking the owner to fix a chimney or change working hours, may achieve more in a week than a year of proceedings. Some owners will install a scrubber or move a process indoors once they know residents are documenting it.
Legal action is also not the right tool where the real dispute is something else: a property quarrel, a parking fight, or rent. Using a pollution complaint to apply pressure in an unrelated dispute tends to fail, and the authorities see through it. Litigate where there is real harm, a clear source and authorities who have not acted. That is when the remedies above work.
What to do this week
- Start a dated diary and take short videos of the emissions or discharge, showing the time and place
- Note the unit's name, address and what it makes; mark its distance from your house on a map
- Search the pollution board's website for its consent; file an RTI if it is not listed
- Send a written complaint to the board's regional office with copies to the DM and, in NCR, the CAQM
- Lodge an app complaint as well and save the complaint number
- Speak to neighbours and the RWA about a joint complaint and signatures
- Keep medical records and any proof of property damage
- Diary a follow-up date three to four weeks ahead
Getting the papers read
Most of what decides a factory pollution case is on paper long before any hearing: the consent status, the complaint trail and the dates. If you would like an advocate to look at what you have and suggest whether the SDM, the board or the NGT should come next, the team of Advocate B.K. Singh at B.K. Singh & Associates can review the papers. Send a short note with your documents through our online enquiry form. Where the authorities themselves are the problem and the issue goes beyond one site, our post on writ petitions in the Delhi High Court explains when a writ is the better course.
Frequently asked questions
How do I complain to the DPCC about a factory?
Write to the DPCC with the unit's name and address, what it is releasing, since when, and how it affects you, with dated photographs, videos and a map. Send it by email and post, ask for an inspection and sampling, and keep proof. You can also use the Green Delhi app, but follow it with a written complaint.
Can a factory run in a residential area in Delhi?
Generally, polluting industries are permitted only in approved industrial areas. The Master Plan allows limited household industries in residential areas, subject to conditions on power load, workers and the type of activity. A polluting unit in a residential colony is usually breaking both the planning law and the pollution law.
How long does the pollution board take to act on a complaint?
There is no fixed statutory deadline for a resident's complaint. In practice, follow up after three to four weeks with a reminder and an RTI asking for the action taken. If the board does nothing, that inaction becomes evidence for an SDM application or an NGT case.
Can I file an FIR against a polluting factory?
You can report offences such as public nuisance (BNS section 270), fouling public water (section 279) or making the atmosphere noxious (section 280), but the penalties are small and police cannot measure emissions. The pollution board, the SDM and the NGT are usually more effective for ongoing pollution.
What is section 152 BNSS?
It allows an Executive Magistrate such as the SDM to order removal of a public nuisance, including a trade or activity harmful to the health or physical comfort of the community. The person must stop the nuisance or show cause, and if no sufficient cause is shown the order is made absolute. It replaced section 133 of the old CrPC.
How do I find out if a factory has pollution board consent?
Check the state board's website, which often lists consents granted. If you cannot find it, file an RTI application with the board asking for the unit's consent to establish, consent to operate, category and inspection reports.
Can the NGT order compensation for health problems caused by a factory?
Yes. Under section 15 of the NGT Act, victims can claim compensation within five years of the cause arising. You need medical records and evidence linking the harm to the source, and the fee is 1 per cent of the amount claimed.
Which authority handles factory pollution in Noida and Ghaziabad?
The UP Pollution Control Board, through its regional offices, is the main regulator. Land use is with the Noida Authority or the Ghaziabad Development Authority and municipal corporation, and the CAQM issues directions across the NCR. NGT cases go to the Principal Bench in New Delhi.
Can residents get a factory sealed?
Residents cannot seal a unit themselves, but they can ask the pollution board to direct closure and disconnection of power and water, the civic body to seal a unit breaking land use rules, and the NGT to order closure until compliance. The stronger the evidence of operation without consent, the faster this tends to happen.
Is a private lab test enough to prove pollution?
It helps you decide whether to act, but it is not usually treated as conclusive. Samples drawn by the board's officers under the procedure in the Water and Air Acts carry much more weight. Ask the board in writing to take samples.
Can I complain anonymously about factory pollution?
App complaints can sometimes be made without much personal detail, but anonymous complaints are easy to close without action. A named written complaint, ideally from several households, creates a record the board and the tribunal will take seriously.
What if the factory reopens after being closed?
Write to the board immediately with fresh dated evidence, and to the civic body if land use is involved. Repeated violation after closure is a strong ground for an NGT application seeking monitoring and enforcement, and disobeying a magistrate's absolute order under section 152 is itself an offence.
Written and reviewed at B.K. Singh & Associates
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M., with more than twenty years of practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district courts and tribunals across Delhi NCR. This article explains the general law as of 24 October 2026; it is not legal advice on your facts.