Madras HC rejects another plea to stop Tamirabarani water supply to soft drink units

Industries have to co-exist to maintain a balance, says the court’s Madurai bench.

A view of the Tamirabarani river, in Tirunelveli. File photo

The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation petition to ban supply of surface water from Tamirabarani to nearly 30 industries, including co-packers of Pepsi and Coke, at Gangaikondan Industrial Park in Tirunelveli district.

A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and P. Velmurugan dismissed the latest PIL petition which was the third case to be filed in the court after the dismissal of two similar petitions filed early this year with a plea to ban supply of water only to co-packers of Pepsi and Coke alone.

In March this year, a Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan had dismissed those two petitions on several grounds, including the State government’s submission that only 43 mcft out of 5,049 mcft of surface water that goes waste into the sea was being supplied to the two industries.

The court also took note of the claim told that such supply did not affect either irrigation or drinking water needs of the people in any way.

The judges had pointed out that the PIL petitioners had failed to submit any scientific proof or material to show that water supply to the two industries would adversely affect either agriculture or drinking water requirement.

They said the litigants had chosen to file the cases against the two industries alone, though others in the IGC were drawing much more water.

Despite dismissing the petitions, the court 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.

'Industries have to co-exist'

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.

The Bench led by Mr. Justice Selvam pointed out 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 the SIPCOT’s predecessor Tamil Nadu Corporation for Industrial Infrastructure Development (TACID) to draw 3 million gallons a day (MGD) from the 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, the SIPCOT was drawing only 0.5 MGD of water from the Tamirabarani and supplying it to industries in the IGC.

Though 940.45 acres were allotted so far to 62 industries, just 27 of them were functioning, with the others remaining in various stages of being established.

In that judgement, the judges had also expressed their anguish over the government not having taken any steps in the last 70 years to avoid surplus outflow of the Tamirabarani water into the sea.