A Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has, while dealing with a petition seeking directions to Government to take effective measures restraining Companies from discharging their waste in Amravati river, ordered that State should maintain check and balance and form a high-level expert committee to render effective measures in controlling the water pollution in Amravati river.
Factual Background
The Petitioner filed a petition before the Court regarding the discharge of chemical waste into the Amravati River by industries. The discharge of chemical waste on a regular basis caused water pollution into the river. It also turned the underground water into toxic water.
Therefore this petition was filed before this Court.
Court Reasoning & Judgment
The Court perused all the facts and asked the Eighth Respondent i.e. Industry regarding the same. The Respondent informed that the petitioner may have an axe to grind against the eighth respondent. The Court was vexed by the stand of the Government as the Government was clueless on the effective measures which ought to be taken. The Court ordered the Government that:
“It is the duty of the State and appropriate checks and balances should be introduced by the State to ensure that the dumping of effluents into any flowing water body, whether by any industry or by local inhabitants, is completely prohibited if only to preserve the quality of water for downstream users thereof.”
The Court while observing that Amravati is the only river on which State is dependant for flowing water and damming of rainwater should be conserved, expressed that:
“every endeavour should be made to ensure that the quality of the water is not compromised or adversely affected by the discharge of effluents or sewage or the like.”
The Court held that:
“The State should constitute an expert body with persons having impeccable credentials in such regard to suggest appropriate measures, whether to curb the extent of effluents discharged by the industry or to relocate industries which are close to the banks of flowing waterbodies. A set of guidelines need to be formulated with appropriate checks and balances before all flowing water in the State turns poisonous.”
Therefore, the Bench gave a time period of a fortnight to the Government to take the matter seriously and invite the best minds to indicate how the quality of flowing water across the state can be preserved and listed the matter on 15.06.2021.
Case Details
Case: W.P.No.34310 of 2017
Quorum: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
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