CHENNAI: Finding no serious irregularities or violations in the operations of a beer manufacturing company in Tiruvallur district, the Madras High Court stayed the closure order issued to it by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board for violations of air and water pollution rules.
A division bench of Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar recently granted the interim stay on the operation of the closure order after hearing petitions filed by United Breweries Ltd.
Referring to the submissions made by senior counsel V Raghavachari for the breweries, the bench said it was unable to find any justification for closing the units for ‘trivial reasons’.
It further said that the trivial reasons found in the impugned closure order are based on reports filed after the inspection held on January 20. When there is a reply to the show cause notice, there is no reference to the compliance reported by the petitioner in its explanations.
The violations pointed by TNPCB are about past conduct and it is not the case of the board that petitioner units had failed to provide facilities which were available at the time of granting consent, it said.
“Therefore, this court is unable to find any serious irregularities or violations resulting in unbearable pollution for permitting the units to function,” the bench said.
The bench also concurred with the submissions of counsel for the company that the units have to maintain the required temperature levels for storing ammonia and carbon dioxide; and if power supply is disconnected, there is a possibility of leakage which is dangerous.
Staying the closure order for three weeks, the court directed the Electricity Board not to disconnect the power supply as directed by TNPCB in the closure order, and if disconnected already, it should be restored.