THOTTATHIL B. RADHAKRISHNAN, J.

1. These appeals are by a Grama Panchayat challenging the interim orders granted during the course of three writ petitions.

2. We have heard the learned counsel for the appellant Panchayat and the learned Senior Counsel appearing for different private parties in the writ petition, who are the writ petitioners.

3. The writ petitioners were issued with D & O licences in terms of the provisions of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, hereinafter referred to as the 'Act' and the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Issue of Licence to Dangerous and Offensive Trades and Factories) Rules, 1996, for short, the 'D & O Rules'. The learned single Judge directed that those licences under the D & O Rules be renewed without insisting on environmental clearance certificates being produced. This is under challenge.

4. The provisions of Sections 232, 233 and 234 of the Act as well as the contents of the D & O Rules clearly show that the provisions of the Act and the D & O Rules stand by themselves and those provisions are not dependent on any decision to be rendered on the basis of any other statute. We are, therefore, of the view that the decision of the learned single Judge