FRONT PAGE | Thursday, October 8, 2009 | Email | Print | 
SC slaps Rs 55-crore fine on river polluters
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi
Amount to be used for cleaning TN’s Noyyal river
The Government may have got away by making empty noises about containing river pollution, but the polluters have been ruthlessly pinned down by the Supreme Court in a case involving Tirupur’s dyeing units. These have been asked to pay a whopping Rs 55 crore plus as fine, with the money to be used for cleaning the river dirtied by them.
The apex court recently imposed a whopping fine of Rs 55 crore on garment dyeing and bleaching industries that turned Noyyal river in Tamil Nadu dry, with patches of “dark red” water. The money would go into cleaning the river and setting up 17 common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) along the river.
The decision, pronounced on Tuesday by a Bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice BS Chauhan, observed, “The principles of ‘polluter pays’ and ‘precautionary principle’ have to be read with the doctrine of sustainable development. It becomes the responsibility of the members of the appellant association (Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners) that they have to carry out their industrial activity without polluting the river.”
The court directed the factories to pay Rs 55,60,96,848 as the total cost of compensation for the ‘loss’ caused to the river and towards setting up of 17 CETPs in the area. With the units having already deposited Rs 25 crore under a previous interim order of the court, the Bench directed the association to deposit the remaining amount (Rs 38,38,50,817) within three months.
The court was furious after a report, filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, presented the shocking state of the Noyyal river, which was being choked to death by the factories releasing toxic effluents. The report, submitted in July-August 2009, suggested “no flow of surface water” in some parts of the river and “dry” patches within the remaining stretch, with the water being “dark red in colour”. It was pointed out that besides chemical and industrial effluents, even domestic effluent and municipal solid waste from the local municipality was dumped into the river.
The court was particularly concerned about the high alkane content in the water, high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS), excess chloride and per cent sodium and unhealthy levels of biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand, caused largely due to the chemical wastes in water. Drawing its inference, the Bench said, “Undoubtedly there has been unabated pollution by the members of the appellant association.
They cannot escape the responsibility of meeting out the expenses of reversing the ecology. They are bound to meet the expenses of removing the sludge of the river and also for cleaning the dam.”
The factory owners came to the Supreme Court challenging a Madras High Court decision of December 26, 2006, where a PIL filed by the Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association had alleged that the garment export business of Tirupur had rendered the river water unfit for drinking and irrigation purposes. Not only was the river under threat of drying up, the industrial activity had adversely affected the Orthapalyam dam situated on the river.
The high court set up an expert committee, headed by a retired high court judge, which recommended imposition of fine for polluting the river. As the cost of recovering the river to its original form was to come at an enormous price, the court passed a novel order by investing the task on the factories to clean the river and set up effluent treatment plants to prevent future damage. This was worked out at Rs 12.50 crore towards cleaning and desilting operations, Rs 22.99 crore as compensation for loss of ecology and Rs 12 crore as ad hoc compensation for estimated loss during 2005-07.
The factory owners argued that the compensation figures were “unscientific and exorbitant” and should not be imposed in addition to the responsibility of setting up CETPs. The matter remained pending for two-and-a-half years in the Supreme Court, though the factories were permitted to continue work.
Email | Print | Rate:
|