The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the Central Pollution Control Board (PCB) directive to Travancore Titanium Product (TTP) Limited, Thiruvananthapuram, to stop operation of all its plants with immediate effect.
The stay order will remain in force for one month. It came on a batch of writ petitions filed by the company management and various trade unions in the company challenging the directive.
The board, in its order, said a team of board officials who inspected the company plants found that it had not set up an effluent treatment plant and was discharging untreated effluent containing sulphuric acid, sulphur and ferrous sulphate directly into the sea, causing grave damage to the environment.
Besides, the team found that the company was operating without obtaining valid consents from the State Pollution Control Board under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, and Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) of Rules, 2008.
The board directed the company not to resume operation till it complied with its directives, including stoppage of untreated effluent and getting proper consent.
The petitioners contended that the order was illegal as it had been issued without complying with the mandatory requirements under Rule 4 of the Environment Protection Rules. The Central PCB had not taken into account the fact that an effluent treatment plant had already become operational.
The livelihood of the staff and their families would be adversely affected by the sudden closure of the company. In fact, with the setting up of a neutralisation plant and a reverse osmosis unit, the complaint of discharging effluent into the sea had been solved.
