The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday expressed surprise over Madurai Corporation having permitted a private unit dealing with huge number of glass bottles to function without a licence for the last 20 years in the heart of the city and yet collecting money from its proprietor under the head of ‘licence fee.’
Disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by P. Suresh, a resident of Narimedu here, a Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran restrained Seenivasan of Thiruppathi Bottles from operating his unit in a residential area at Singarayar Colony in Narimedu without obtaining a licence from the Corporation.
Though the petitioner had accused Seenivasan of using his unit at the residential locality to crush the bottles and transport them to several places, a Senior Counsel appearing for the latter claimed that his client was only involved in the business of washing the glass bottles and sending them back to the customers.
Not persuaded by the claim, the judges said that the photographs produced before the court show that huge pile of crushed bottles were stored in the unit. They also disagreed with the counsel that there was no necessity to obtain a licence from the Corporation either for storing the bottles or washing them since petitioner’s unit could not be described as a glass industry.
Holding that the unit dealing with such huge number of bottles would definitely fall under the classification of glass industry, the judges said that a reading of Section 360 of the Madurai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1971 and Schedule IV of the enactment would make it clear that it has to obtain a licence from the Corporation.
“When the Act requires obtaining of licence from Corporation even to store soiled clothes, how can you be allowed to store huge number of bottles without any licence,” asked Mr. Justice Nagamuthu.
Mr. Justice Muralidaran pointed out that Section 361 of the Act authorises the Corporation to even deny licence on the ground of nuisance or public danger.
Since it was reported to the court that the unit had already been put under lock and key, the judges permitted its owner to take away the goods stored in it by Tuesday and then apply for a licence in accordance with the Corporation Act. The Corporation authorities, were, in turn, ordered to take a decision on the application within two months.
