Nawneet Vibhaw
Nawneet Vibhaw is a Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co with about 13 years of experience and specialises in environmental advisory and environmental disputes, which is a niche practice area in the Indian legal domain.
Nawneet regularly appears in environmental matters before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and has been advising clients in diverse environment related matters in sectors like cement, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive, construction and real estate, power, fast-moving consumer goods, healthcare, hospitality, mining, oil and gas, steel and waste management.
Nawneet has authored three books that have been published by LexisNexis. He has also been actively contributing to chapters in international publications, columns and articles in mainstream media and publications such as Economic Times, Financial Express, LiveMint, The Hindu, Fortune India, Statesman, Business Standard, VCCircle, DNA, Mondaq and Lexology.
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As part of his legal education support initiative, Nawneet has offered regular lectures in Environmental Law and Energy Law at National Law University Delhi and Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat between 2011 and 2015. He has been involved in several speaking engagements at prestigious seminars and conferences related to environment, sustainability and climate change in India, USA, Australia, Germany, Spain, Philippines and Belgium.
Nawneet is one of the very few lawyers in India specialising in Environmental Law practice and has gained an enviable experience in dealing in environmental matters. He has been actively advising clients on environmental issues in transactions where he examines the consents and clearances, historic liability, past regulatory action, instances of non-compliances and identifies issues and challenges to assist the client in addressing them and arriving at an effective long-term solution. He has advised clients on mergers and acquisitions and similar transactions involving companies across sectors where environmental issues are involved. Apart from the regulatory advisory, compliance and ESG audit etc., Nawneet has been assisting clients in responding to the notices from the regulatory authorities besides representing them in environmental disputes before NGT, Supreme Court and other courts and authorities.
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Select Experience Statement
Environmental Advisory Matters
- An American multinational chemical company on issues relating to applicable emission standards and on various aspects of the environmental regulatory framework in India.
- Several companies on environmental issues in corporate and commercial transactions, especially those relating to the target company, including the regulatory issues and disputes, compliance issues, remediation and past liability.
- Several companies on issues relating to management and handling of plastic waste in light of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements and plastic ban across states. Also advised companies on issues relating to handling of biomedical, electronic, hazardous, construction and demolition wastes. This included advising on issues relating to seeking authorizations from the state pollution control boards (SPCBs) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), responsibilities of various stakeholders including manufacturers, brand owners, producers etc. under various waste management laws.
- A prominent e-commerce company on issues relating to management and recycling of plastic waste used in packaging of their products.
- Companies on issues relating to corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and what expenses would be covered under such categories.
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- A leading US manufacturer of packaging and labelling material on issues relating to environmental compliance at its manufacturing facility. This included review of consultant’s report and identification of risks and also advising on the strategy to be adopted for mitigating the potential risk due to past non-compliances and shifting the plant to another site.
- Enterprises located in polluted industrial clusters, as identified by the CPCB before NGT, in states like Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Haryana and assisted them in seeking exemption from the SPCBs to avoid any punitive measures or imposition of fine.
- Mining companies on issues relating to compensatory afforestation and whether such compensatory afforestation could be carried out in a different state with the consent of the relevant governments.
- One of India’s largest steel manufacturers on issues relating to seeking environmental clearance for expansion of a ‘red category’ industry located in the vicinity of an ecologically sensitive zone.
- Global alcoholic beverages company in a matter pertaining to usage of ground water in water scarce areas.
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Environmental Disputes
- India’s largest association of cement manufacturers, the only calcium carbide company in India, the only two graphite electrode manufacturers in India and one of India’s largest steel manufacturers before the Supreme Court of India to seek an exemption for the usage and import of pet coke in India.
- Advisory and Dispute Resolution of one of the largest cement companies in India before the NGT in a dispute relating to grant and subsequent revocation of environmental clearance for their proposed plant in Rajasthan.
- A prominent power company before the NGT in an environmental dispute relating to mining of coal and closure of mines located in the state of Odisha.
- Successful dismissal by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of a five-star hotel proposed in Uttarakhand, in a dispute relating to violation of forest conservation laws.
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- A chemical industry before the NGT in a matter where closure orders were issued against the chemical industry by the SPCB.
- A graphite electrode manufacturer in a matter before the NGT and the Supreme Court of India relating to air pollution caused due to the industry in its vicinity thereby resulting in alleged health issues to the people residing around the industry in a prominent locality in Bengaluru.
- A leading real-estate company in a litigation before the NGT with respect to usage of groundwater in construction related activities in Gurgaon.
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Professional Memberships
- Supreme Court Bar Association
- National Green Tribunal Bar Association
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law
Education
- B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
- LL.M., Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, USA
