JUDGMENT

Kapadia, J.-Delay condoned.

Leave granted in SLP (C) 4434/04 CC No. 28455 of 1994.

2. By a voluminous judgment dated 14th February, 1994 in a public interest litigation instituted by Law Society of India a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court directed Fertilizers and Chemicals, Travancore Ltd. to de-commission and empty the ammonia storage tank at Willingdon Island within three months as the said tank was vulnerable to major leaks in the event of an air crash, sabotage and earthquake.

3. Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. is a public sector undertaking which manufactures chemicals fertilizers to the extent of 4% of total fertilizer production in the country. Ammonia is the chemical used as raw material in production of fertilizers like Urea, Ammonium Sulphate and Ammonium Chloride. Ammonia imported in special refrigerated ships is stored in the storage tank located in Willingdon Island. It is pumped from the ships into the storage tank at an atmospheric pressure. The tank was designed in March, 1973 and it was commissioned in August, 1976 to receive liquid ammonia from special refrigerated ships. The ammonia stored in this tank is transferred into railway wagons which carry liquid ammonia to the Cochin Division of the company where it is stored in a bigger ammonia storage tank before it is pumped to various consuming plants. The complaint of the original petitioner was of massive environmental pollution caused by the existence of the tank. The original petitioner anticipates devastating catastrophe of exterminating large population of Willingdon Island and the city of Cochin in the event of a major leak in the said ammonia tank. In this connection the original petitioner relied upon accidents which have taken place in Soviet Union and Pakistan where leakages developed in the plants injuring thousand of persons. According to the original petitioner in the Willingdon Island there is an airport which is in the vicinity of tank and if by chance an air crash take place it would lead to human tragedy. It was further stated that such leakage in existing ammonia storage tank cannot be ruled out and in which event the fire force, police, navy and district health authorities were not capable to provide adequate safety measures.

4. The High Court came to the conclusion that the environmental imperative is ultimately a matter of public rights and duties. That effective environmental protection and improvement is a matter of legal rights and duties. The High Court examined two questions viz. possibility of operational failure of the tank which weighs 10,000 tonnes and leakage of ammonia on account of rupture in the tank which would result in an uncontrolable devastation of the entire living population in the Willingdon Island, city of Cochin and surrounding places. The High Court further observed that major leak could be caused by air crash in the vicinity of the tank as there was an airport in the vicinity or by an act of sabotage or by earthquake which would lead to loss of human life on tragic scale. Consequently it directed the company to close down the tank and not to operate the tank in the Willingdon Island. Being aggrieved the Association has come by way of civil appeal to this Court.

5. Two questions arise for determination in these civil appeals viz. location of the tank and structural integrity of the tank. Since the matter is of a technical nature this Court appointed M/s Engineers India Limited (in short EIL ), New Delhi to re-examine all the issues and submit its report. The report dated December 24, 2003 has now been submitted. It is ordered to be taken on record. In the said report EIL has given technical details of the foundation of the tank at Annexure-II. Clause 4.1 deals with adequacy of foundation. EIL carried out a hydrostatic test under which the foundation was progressively loaded and readings were accordingly recorded. After carrying out the test EIL has opined that the tank can continue in service in