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Kerala to appeal against court verdict in Coke case

Special Correspondent

`Government to clamp down on overexploitation of water '

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Government has decided to go in appeal against the Kerala High Court verdict asking the Perumatty panchayat in Palakkad district to renew the licence granted to the Hindustan Coca-Cola Company unit at Plachimada.

In what amounts to a clear signal to the cola majors that the Government proposed to stand by the panchayats in the water battle, Local Self- Government Minister Kutty Ahamed Kutty told the Assembly on Thursday that the Government had also decided to clamp down on over-exploitation of water by the cola units. The Government, he said, was fully aware of its duty to protect natural resources, including drinking water. It was also aware of the local bodies' duty to protect groundwater resources. Mr. Ahamed Kutty, who was replying to a submission by K. P. Rajendran (CPI), said the Government had decided to move the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict of April 7 on a writ petition filed by the Coca-Cola company as the Court directive was violative of Section 232 of the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act given the fact that the company had not complied with the directives on pollution control issued by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, he said. The Minister pointed out that that the company had not complied with the Kerala State Pollution Control Board's directive that it check the cadmium content in its effluents and the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee's October 15 directive that the company take steps to check water pollution in the area and apprise the Pollution Control Board about the measures taken. The board had stipulated that the company's licence should be revived only if it complied with these directives, he said.

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