Terms of Service & Advisory Engagement

1. Nature of Advisory & Engineering Services

These Terms of Service govern the engagement between ACK Environment (“ACK”, “Consultant”) and the commissioning client (“Client”, “Industrial Unit”) for professional statutory environmental consultancy, technical project report drafting, GPCB/CPCB liaison, CTE/CCA application processing, NABL analytical lab testing, and statutory Schedule II Environmental Audits.

ACK Environment acts as a professional technical advisor, statutory liaison consultant, and empanelled auditor. We prepare mathematical formulations, mass balance flowcharts, environmental management plans, and representation dossiers according to the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1974, Air Act 1981, Environment (Protection) Act 1986, and Hazardous & Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules.

2. Client Disclosures & Technical Accuracy

The statutory validity of any environmental application or clearance relies fundamentally upon the factual truthfulness of the data supplied by the Client:

• Accurate Stoichiometric Data: The Client must supply true, verified figures concerning Gross Capital Investment (GCI), raw material usage ratios, finished goods production capacity, daily fuel consumption, and wastewater generation metrics.
• Factory Site Truthfulness: Plant layout drawings, boundary coordinates, DG set capacities, stack heights, and Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) capacity figures submitted must reflect actual on-ground factory conditions.
• Timely Document Submission: The Client undertakes to furnish all required ownership proofs, CA valuation certificates, GIDC allotment papers, and TSDF/CETP membership receipts in a timely manner to prevent statutory portal query expirations.

3. Government Board Timelines & Authority Prerogative

While ACK Environment executes rigorous internal engineering vetting to achieve fast-track turnarounds (averaging 20–30 days for initial scrutiny passes), statutory granting authority resides strictly with the respective government bodies:

• Autonomous Discretion of Statutory Boards: Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), and MoEFCC function as sovereign statutory regulators. Final grant, renewal, amendment, or inspection timing rests entirely within their official administrative competence.
• Query Turnaround Protocols: Whenever a GPCB technical officer raises scrutiny remarks on the XGN portal, ACK will formulate scientific and regulatory counter-clarifications within 3 to 5 working days upon receiving requisite operational data from the Client.

4. Fee Structures, Retainers & Government Dues

Consultancy engagement financial terms are executed via designated milestone quotation letters:

• Statutory Government Fees: GPCB scrutiny fees, consent application fees, water cess deposits, bank guarantees, and SEAC processing charges are sovereign statutory dues payable directly by the Client to the government portal accounts.
• Professional Consulting Fees: Professional advisory fees are billed against clear project milestones (e.g., DPR finalization, XGN submission receipt, post-inspection compliance representation, final CTE/CCA order delivery).
• Taxes: All invoices are subject to applicable Goods and Services Tax (GST) as per Indian taxation statutes.

5. Statutory Schedule II Environmental Auditing Terms

For manufacturing units classified under GPCB Environmental Audit Scheme (Schedule II):

• Auditing inspections are conducted by qualified, empanelled chemical engineers and environmental scientists in accordance with High Court of Gujarat mandates.
• The Client must grant complete physical access to ETP units, hazardous waste storage areas, emission stacks, laboratory logs, and water meters during mandated monitoring visits.
• Form-V Environmental Audit statements reflect empirical analytical findings from NABL laboratory tests and cannot be altered to mask non-compliant effluent or emission figures.

6. Technical Reports & Intellectual Property

All customized environmental management plans, stoichiometric models, DPR volumes, and technical presentations prepared specifically for the Client’s manufacturing plant become the operational property of the Client upon settlement of full consultancy dues.

Proprietary internal calculation algorithms, specialized audit templates, software tools, and testing apparatus methodologies developed by ACK Environment remain the exclusive intellectual property of ACK Environment.

7. Limitation of Liability & Force Majeure

ACK Environment maintains standard professional indemnity and regulatory due diligence. To the fullest extent permitted by Indian Law:

• Our aggregate financial liability arising under any statutory advisory contract shall in no event exceed the total professional consultancy fees received by ACK Environment for that specific engagement scope.
• We shall not be liable for plant shutdown directives, business interruption losses, statutory penalties, or third-party damages arising from illegal operational discharges, unapproved plant capacity expansions, or willful non-compliance by factory management.
• Neither party shall be in default for delays resulting from Acts of God, government portal server crashes (e.g., XGN / Parivesh downtimes), gazette policy amendments, lockdowns, or judicial injunctions.

8. Governing Law & Judicial Jurisdiction

All advisory agreements, consultancy proposals, and legal relationships between ACK Environment and the Client shall be governed by and interpreted exclusively in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of India.

In the event of any irreconcilable dispute or claim, the competent courts located in Rajkot, Gujarat, India shall have exclusive territorial and subject-matter jurisdiction to resolve such proceedings.