While dismissing the public interest litigation petitions against supply of Tamirabarani river to industries set up by co-packers of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola at the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC) in Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district, the Madras High Court here said, “The allegations made by the petitioners do not show any lamentable state of affairs. Further, there is absolutely no hindrance in utilising the river water by the common people and there is no deviation of doctrine of public trust.”
It pointed out that SIPCOT also held the right to stop supply to the industries if there was scarcity of water in the locality.
The judges took note of the fact that the very purpose of establishing the IGC was to generate employment and improve the economy of the State. “Industries have to co-exist to maintain a balance. Sustainable development is the order of the day,” they said and recorded the submission of the two industries that they had provided employment to hundreds of workers.
‘Ulterior motive’
The Bench also held that that D.A. Prabakar, one of the two PIL petitioners, had filed the case with an ulterior motive. He had filed the petition without disclosing the fact that he was once a lawyer for the co-packer of Coca-Cola and began initiating various litigations against the company after his services were dispensed with due to his “unethical practices.”
Authoring the judgment, Mr. Justice Kalaiyarasan pointed out that a Government Order was passed on May 14, 1998 permitting SIPCOT’s predecessor Tamil Nadu Corporation for Industrial Infrastructure Development (TACID) to draw 3 million gallons per day (MGD) from Tamirabarani and supply it to industries established in the IGC spread over 1,991.58 acres.
The permission was granted with the approval of Water Utilisation Committee. However, at present, SIPCOT was drawing only 0.5 MGD of water from Tamirabarani and supplying it to industries in IGC.
Though 940.45 acres had been allotted so far to 62 industries, just 27 of them were functioning, with the others remaining in various stages of being established.
In their judgement, Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan expressed their anguish over the State government not having taken any steps in the last 70 years to avoid surplus outflow of Tamirabarani river water into the sea.
