Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Court stays closure order to distillery

Special Correspondent

"Liquor production never exceeded limit"

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has stayed a closure order issued by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to Midas Golden Distilleries Private Limited.

The First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru granted the interim relief to the distillery on its petition seeking to quash an August 24 order of the TNPCB to close down the unit and snapping electricity supply.

The District Environmental Engineer of the TNPCB had issued a show-cause notice to the Midas Distilleries, located at Padappai, on July 17, listing deficiencies such as excess production of liquor, discharge of sewage and absence of reverse osmosis plant on the premises.

"Closure order motivated"

Describing the closure order as "motivated" and one passed due to "extraneous considerations," M.R.P. Eraavanan, a director of the company, said though the show-cause notice was issued by a district official of the Board, the closure order was issued by the TNPCB Chairman. "The show-cause notice was issued by one authority and, when the explanation was made to the said authority, the impugned order of closure was made by a different authority who has nothing to do with the show-cause notice. In other words, the person who issued the show-cause notice was not the person who passed the impugned order."

Refuting the allegations in the show-cause notice, A.L. Somayaji, senior counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the liquor production at the unit never exceeded the permitted limit. The treated sewage was being used for gardening within the premises.

He said the present level of water usage at the unit did not necessitate installation of a reverse osmosis plant.

The petitioner, on his part, said no opportunity for personal hearing was accorded to the company. Minimum requirements of natural justice were violated before the Board took the extreme step.

Moreover, the power to give directions for closure or stoppage of production could be passed only by the Board as a whole and not by the Chairman, Mr. Eraavanan said, adding that the impugned order had stated that the Chairman was the sole authority.

He said the impugned order never discussed the explanation submitted by him. "The explanation submitted by the petitioner was never discussed or even attempted to be discussed or even mentioned in the order," he said, adding that it indicated a clear non-application of mind and the casual manner in which the matter had been dealt with.

The First Bench has posted the matter to September 14 for further proceedings.

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