ORDER :

C.K. Abdul Rehim, J.

When one among the above Writ Petitions, W.P.(C) No.15505/2016, came up for consideration before a learned Judge of this court, an important legal question arose as to whether the Grama Panchayats (Village Panchayats) are obliged to grant permission for construction or for establishment of any factory, workshop, work place or machinery, under S.233 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred as ‘the Act’ for short) read with Rule 12 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Issue of Licence to Dangerous and Offensive Trades and Factories) Rules, 1996 (hereinafter referred as ‘the Licensing Rules’ for short), in cases where all the authorities had issued permissions/consents/no-objections certifying that such factory, workshop or work place will not cause any environmental problems, if it is permitted to function as per the conditions and restrictions imposed by the said authorities and when such units had also obtained environmental clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). In other words, the issue confronted was,