The Madras High Court has reserved orders on a writ petition seeking a direction to Thanjavur district Collector to reconvene the public hearing held at Vadaseri on a proposed distillery unit in the village.
A proper hearing free of intimidation should be conducted at Vadaseri or at any location other than the distillery project site, the petition stated.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K.K. Sasidharan, reserved orders on conclusion of arguments.
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The Vadaseri Grama Vivasayigal Sangam, represented by its president G. Krishnamurthy, submitted that it appeared that Kings India Chemicals Corporation Ltd. had decided to set up a distillery in the village.
After the panchayat president declared that a No Objection Certificate (NOC) was issued on July 13, 2009, there were several representations to the association and public authorities citing the repercussions of having the unit in the village.
It would extract all groundwater. This would seriously affect environment and agricultural operations.
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Panchayat members and the association addressed petitions to the Collector. After considering the objections to the setting up the unit, the panchayat president recognised the unanimous views of the villagers opposing the distillery.
However, no action was initiated to convene a meeting for withdrawing the NOC.
The petitioner said when it was announced there would be a public hearing on the project, the association and the villagers opposed the programme, which was to beld at the distillery unit site, apprehending a law and order problem.
On the day of the public hearing, the Additional Superintendent of Police, who was present inside the factory, said the villagers could not enter the venue before the hearing.
Lathi-charge
There was lathi-charge targeting the villagers. The public hearing was declared closed within 10 minutes.
Proper representations to the authorities could not be made as there was a heavy police bandobust preventing free movement of people in the village.
An FIR was registered against the Vadaseri villagers and arrests were made.
The public hearing was a farce and non est in law. It had become necessary to seek appropriate court orders to direct the authorities to reconvene the public hearing, the association said.